Plan for safeguards as huge housing development plan moves forward

The Bassingthorpe Farm site covers a large area of land at Greasbrough and has been earmarked for development by Rotherham Council.

However, the site is so large - predicted to take between 1,950 and 2,500 new homes - that the council wants to put measures in place to ensure that they have some control over the way it is developed.

The council owns small areas of the site, but most is in private ownership.

Now the council is planning to go to public consultation on proposals for a Supplementary Planning Document, which would cover the site.

That would set a ‘benchmark’ for what the council hoped to achieve from the development, councillors have been told.

Council officer Andrew Bramidge told members of the council’s ruling Cabinet: “It provides an important opportunity to shape what ti looks like in the long-term.

“This will be a 10 to 15 year development.”

The site is so large it is expected it will need a primary school to serve the community, with employment land also included in the development.

Plans for how the area will be open to walkers, cyclists and public transport are also areas of interest to the council.

It is also seen as important that the site is developed to take advantage of the natural topography of the land.

Council leader Chris Read said: “It is ten years since the council committed to the possibility of development there.

“It is a very significant site.

“We want to make are if and when it is built, it will be the best possible development it can be, where people want to live. The kind of community we would want to see, which is sustainable for the borough,” he said.

There was much more work to do in the months and years ahead as to how it would be built out, and who would develop it, he added.

All councils have an obligation to ensure there is an adequate supply of land for new housing, usually governed by ‘local plans’ which set out suitable sites, rather than allowing a free-for-all with applications for green belt sites.