THURNSCOE residents have complained about updated plans for a large housing estate - challenging the findings of a new report on transportation in the area.

Some are now putting in fresh objections to Barnsley Council, which will make a decision on the development, on a green field site off Thurnscoe Bridge Lane.

The controversy was heightened by a serious crash on that road last Friday, involving three vehicles, which left at least one person in hospital with serious injuries.

That is being seen by some as stark evidence that there are road safety issues at stake.

A report compiled for developers Avant Homes concludes that extra traffic from the 289 homes estate would not “result in a ‘severe residual cumulative impact’.

“There are no substantive highway grounds why the development should not be granted consent”.

However, that view is challenged by objectors, with concerns including the timing of traffic surveys, done at lunchtime which, an objection states, “was during one of the quietest periods of the day and… obviously doesn’t give a true reflection of the busier times on the particular stretch of road.

“If they’d carried this out during a normal school week between 8.30am and 9am, on a Saturday (anytime between 8am and 3pm) or a Wednesday evening between 7pm and 10pm, they would have an entirely different perspective of the volume of traffic and the problems it will cause, especially where the entrance to the site is proposed to be.”

Concerns: Objectors fears over road safety were heightened by a serious collision

placeholder image — Concerns: Objectors fears over road safety were heightened by a serious collision

There are also concerns about the impact on the privacy of current residents in the area

Plans for the estate caused controversy when they were announced and Avant issued publicity stating they hoped to be on site by May, so the expected timescale has already slipped.

Objectors face a tough challenge in getting the plans rejected, however, because the site was earmarked for development under Barnsley Council’s Local Plan, drawn up in 2019 to set out expectations for new housing and where it could be built.

Those plans have not progressed smoothly, leaving the authority behind target for seeing through the numbers of new homes the borough is deemed to need.

That has already left developers applying to build on sites which were not earmarked for immediate development - with success.