Housing plans passed despite dated information

PLANS were passed for homes requiring a new access road despite councillors’ astonishment that the transport data was nine years old.

There were also serious concerns for Foers Wood, which is beside the site set for seven detached dwellings at Aston.

Jaguar Estates’ plans included a transport assessment with data based on a traffic survey of Worksop Road from 2012.

“Nine years ago, and you think that’s fine?” said planning board member Cllr Rose McNeely, Labour, who suggested that traffic could have gone up tenfold since.

“Visibility coupled with the narrow footway is an issue. I’m sorry, but I have serious concerns regarding the safety of pedestrians, especially children.”

Opposition member Cllr Allen Cowles said he was relying on the Russian proverb “trust but verify” on council reports in light of issues around the Broom Lane doctors’ expansion.

“I can’t verify, so I don’t trust any longer what is being put in these documents for us,” he added. “I’m really concerned about what’s happening here.”

Jennifer Foers noted that this was the third time she had spoken at a planning board meeting against plans for the site next to her family’s woodland.

“No new schemes have been submitted for the run-off water,” she added. “There were six inches of rain in the first five weeks of this year.

“That flooded the wood and it has taken three months for it to subside. To add more water would be dangerous.”

Previous applications for 22 and 16 properties on a larger chunk of the same land off Worksop Road had been rejected in previous years.

Mark Bassett, also representing the privately-owned wet woodland, said: “It has not been demonstrated that the site can be developed with an acceptable impact to the ecological and arboricultural features of the site and the adjacent Foers Wood local wildlife site.”

There were 16 objections to the application heard by RMBC’s planning board last Thursday, including from Aston Parish Council, Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust and ward member Cllr Rob Taylor.

RMBC senior highways officer Ian Ferguson said: “We are comfortable in road safety terms that there are no concerns regarding the safety of the proposed junction.”

The resignation of two opposition members before the vote would have made no difference as the proposals went through with six councillors in favour, three against.

The solution for drainage is for it to be diverted to the north around the woodland.