New report exposes 'failings' in controversial hotel plan

The long, and highly detailed, report has been submitted on behalf of Wentworth Parish Council and sets out to unpick many elements of the controversial plan around Home Farm in the village.

That application has already drawn strong objection from within the community, including a meeting of the parish council where around 50 people turned up to voice concerns.

High on the list of worries were the impact on traffic in the village, how development would change the character of the area and the welfare of tenants at Home Farm, which would go under the plan.

The report challenges the planning application on all three of those, questioning the absence of a travel plan, which, it states should “include measures for reducing traffic movements with specific review stages”.

It also questions proposals for a new car park in Granny Clarke’s Wood, which would involve stripping out trees to make way for vehicles.

That 290 space parking area was “primarily intended to relocate existing car parking that occurs within the estate” according to the application.

But the report challenges the lack that, questioning why no new use is described for land to be freed up from existing parking.

“As it stands, the current proposal includes a wholly new car park of 290 spaces, which is in addition to existing car parking across the estate, so the proposal needs to be considered on this basis,” said the report.

It also said it was “understood that 97 spaces are proposed at Home Farm and Gun Park to accommodate the actual development being proposed”.

The application was “simply misleading and disingenuous”, it said.

It also warned that stripping out trees for car parking would expose those remaining to increased UV light and impact from wind, potentially causing problems.

The report describes as “galling” planning application details which state the removal of modern barns at Home Farm would enhance the authenticity of the farmyard.

“Whilst the buildings might not be sympathetic to the original architecture, they are most certainly in keeping with the agricultural use of the site and reaffirm the identity of Home Farm as a working agricultural unit.”

In heritage terms, the report questions why the planning application does not address the prospect of keeping Home Farm in its current use.

It dates from the early 1800s and “the evidential historic value and interest warrant the ensemble of original buildings being considered to have high heritage significance.”

Planning policy required an exploration of alternatives to proposed uses, said the report, and questioned: “Why not a farm still? It is understood that the existing tenant wishes to continue farming and have been offered other farmsteads elsewhere so they might continue…..to serve the associated agricultural land.

“It appears the decision for redevelopment is therefore unrelated to the viability of the farm.”

Under the application, a hotel would be created in the existing, historic, threshing barn building, with a new spa complex built close by.

The report states the spa would block the view of the threshing barn.

The outcome of the application will be determined by Rotherham Council.