Council approve controversial Wickersley housing plans — despite bizarre lorry scene!

The truck, which was delivering wheelie bins, struggled to pass parked cars on Nethermoor Drive, the single planned entrance to the new estate in Wickersley.

Opponents to Harron Homes’s plans for 108 houses on former greenbelt land said the narrow access would make it difficult for large vehicles — including fire engines — to get on and off the estate.

Campaign group WRONG — short for Wickersley, Rotherham’s Own Natural Greenbelt — also raised worries about increased traffic congestion, while one campaigner pointed out housing plans for the site had been turned down five times over the years.

But despite the objections — and the bizarre scene — councillors approved the plans when they returned to the town hall.

Carl Crompton (46), of Morthen Road, said: “As we were stood there, expressing our 

concerns about parking and emergency vehicles, a council lorry arrived.

“It got stuck and was unable to get past due to cars parked on the narrow road. The councillors just said they would take it into consideration.”

The lorry eventually got through after the owner of one of the parked cars was found.

Mr Crompton added: “I was absolutely gobsmacked when 100 per cent of councillors passed this. It’s totally inappropriate.

“We will have three properties at the bottom of our garden, overlooking all three levels of our house.

“That’s on top of the environmental impact, the pressure on schools and doctors, increased traffic and more.”

There is a second application to build 48 more homes nearby with a different access route.

Occupiers of 15 properties have written letters objecting to the plans, while a petition against the development attracted 41 signatures.

Wickersley parish councillors also opposed the development, while the borough council received one letter supporting it.

The site was previously protected as greenbelt, but has been re-designated as a residential area.

A quarter — or 27 of the new dwellings — will be classified as affordable homes. 

The developer will contribute £500 per house towards public transport and will be obliged to maintain all green spaces.

The plans were recommended for approval by planning officers at last Thursday’s meeting and Harron Homes spokesman Mark Beevers insisted that the developer had worked with highways officers to ensure an acceptable access route.

Wickersley resident and WRONG spokesman Nick Cragg told the meeting that protesters saw the application as “not appropriate, in its current form”.

He pointed out that similar plans for the same area were rejected five times between the mid-1960s and mid-1980s. 

Fellow campaigner Marie Woodhead pointed out that traffic would be much heavier now than when housing plans were last rejected — in 1984, due to a “detrimental effect on road safety” — and that emergency vehicles would struggle to get through.

Mr Cragg said he felt the decision was pre-determined and campaigners attending the meeting had wasted their time.

But he said the group would launch a legal challenge as they believed more environmental assessments should have been done.