Big new affordable homes development could be on the way

Outline planning permission - which means the principle of developing the site is agreed - has already been granted by Rotherham Council.

Now they are being asked to approve more fine detail for the site, sandwiched between Highfield Spring and the Sheffield to Worksop railway line.

It would mean 177 new homes going up, with between one and four bedrooms, but the site is unusual because it would include 113 affordable homes, almost two thirds of the whole development.

That is much more than normal, and is because the site is one part of a larger redevelopment of the whole Waverley site.

The developer wants a cluster of affordable homes there, because it would absorb their commitment to provide that type of housing at another part of the site.

Many of the homes would be given over to housing association Great Places, which already oversees some housing at Waverley.

If approved, having housing in the same immediate neighbourhood would ease Great Places’ management demands, according to planning papers.

A decision on whether to allow the scheme to go ahead as planned will be made by councillors, because objections have been made.

They are that the site would be overcrowded and that facilities at Waverley are too sparse.

However, those have been rejected by planning officers, who say ‘spacing’ of homes meets accepted regulations, that a medical centre is on the way, a school is being extended and the Olive Lane shopping centre is planned.

A railway station could also be added. A decision is due on Thursday.