Could cable cars be the answer to Rotherham's traffic problems?

Cllr Nigel Simpson asked for Rotherham Borough Council’s Transport Board to consider the unusual mode of transport — more usually found in the Alps — to link Waverley and Sheffield.

In a question to the full council meeting on Wednesday, the UKIP councillor called for a feasibility study for a cable car linked to park-and-ride facilities.

Cllr Denise Lelliott, the council’s Cabinet member for jobs and the local economy, said the transport board could look at the idea, but she thought a cable car was unlikely to be a cost-effective option.

She said: “It will be expensive.”

The council courted controversy last month with its own unexpected transport plan — spending £500,000 on a new footbridge outside Rotherham Central station which will cut just a few yards off pedestrians’ walk to the station from the town centre.