Rotherham Core Strategy
Every council in the country had been required by central government to produce a Core Strategy which is a plan of where it expects to be and what it expects to do to get there over the next 20 years. I read a Core Strategy for Rotherham about four or five years ago and fell asleep through boredom half way through. I really should have paid much more attention as the latest proposals include the development of vast tracts of housing and business on green belt land. A revised "Core Strategy" has been designed for the town and borough of Rotherham. The option preferred by the local council would involve the building of over 33,000 new homes in the Borough of Rotherham, together with industrial and business areas. Apparently some 70% of these would have to be built on green belt sites. Areas all over the borough of Rotherham have been earmarked as suitable for mass redevelopment.
A full survey of all areas in the Borough has been completed and every skerrick of spare ground has been identified and allocated a development status. This is likely to mean that a housing development is likely to come to an area near you very soon.
The areas earmarked for development are:-
- Aston, Aughton and Swallownest areas - 802 new homes and 25 hectares land for new jobs.
- Bramley and Wickersley - 1,770 new homes.
- Dinnington area - 7,123 new homes and 60 hectares land for new jobs.
- Maltby and Hellaby - 1,472 new homes.
- The whole area known as Bassingthorpe Farm that lies between Thornhill, Greasbrough and Rawmarsh - 3,632 new homes and 22 hectares land for new jobs.
- Wales and Kiveton Park - 1,969 new homes and 23 hectares land for jobs.
- Wath,Brampton and West Melton - 2,985 new homes and 30 hectares land for new jobs.
I know that these figures don't add up but the number of houses needed varies with whichever report you read.
Sounds good doesn't it for Rotherham's Future. Stop and think about it! Huge swathes of green belt will be lost forever. Once you establish that you can de-green any area nowhere is safe from the crawl of concrete.
So why does a borough the size of Rotherham (approx. 250,000 people) need another 33,000 houses, which I reckon amounts to about another 100,000 people minimum. Where are all these folks coming from? According to the 'Core Strategy' it actually needs about another 16,000 houses to satisfy the projected requirements for natural population growth and increases in households. The rest will be needed for the overspill from Sheffield, incomers from the rest of the UK and of course the now ubiquitous foreigners. This of course means that they will need an infrastructure of water supply, power supply, roads, drainage, schools, shops, doctors, libraries, and of course jobs.
Sounds good doesn't it for Rotherham's Future. Stop and think about it!
I am not going to bore you further with the 'Core Strategy' but if you want you can call in at your local library and ask for a copy (there will probably be only one to read not to take away, phone RMBC and ask them to send you a copy or visit online.