News: New developers take on large Rotherham housing scheme

A controversial 450 house development in Rotherham could be moving ahead again, nearly two years after previous developers walked away.

Rothbiz reported in 2024 on a detailed planning application submitted by Avant and the landowner for arable fields that sit between existing housing and Sitwell golf course near to Whiston.

Landowners had worked together to submit an application having previously secured a residential allocation for the nearly 50 acre greenbelt site off Lathe Road / Worry Goose Lane through the development of the borough's Local Plan.

Applicants, AE Waddington, R Parkes & V Foers, worked with JVH Town Planning and agents, WYG, to secure outline planning approval despite over 300 letters of representation being received when it went before the planning board at Rotherham Council.

The 2023 reserved matters planning application from Avant Homes Central for the site remains undetermined but Whiston Residents Action Group (WRAG) and the local MP, Jake Richards found out in 2024 that Avant Homes no longer held an interest in the land.

Now Miller Homes Ltd has engaged with the local planning authority regarding the phasing of the development and the Section 106 legal agreement. Further planning updates are expected to reflect the incoming housebuilders’ product ranges.

Contact has been made with local councilllors and the MP about the updated scheme.

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An update states that since the reserved matters application was submitted "two well-established and highly regarded regional housebuilders have come together to collaboratively deliver the development. This partnership will support the efficient delivery of much-needed, high-quality new homes across a range of house types, alongside a shared commitment to creating a sustainable and well-designed new community."

WRAG states that the housebuilders involved are Miller Homes and St. Modwen Homes.

Miller Homes reported record results for the year ending December 2025, with a 34% increase in turnover to £1.4 billion, driven by the acquisition of St Modwen Homes. The acquisition was part of Miller Homes’ growth strategy, helping it meet its medium-term ambition of reaching 6,000 homes a year. It continues to operate the business under the St. Modwen Homes brand. Miller currently has a strong land pipeline with 91 sites and 16,329 plots in its consented landbank.

The reserved matters application detailed where the houses would go, the types of houses, and the location of things like attenuation basins and play areas.

With outline approval, the scheme comes with a number of conditions, such as contributing to £225,000 for transport improvements plus a financial contribution to the proposed works at Worrygoose roundabout, £100k per annum for a period of three years for bus services, and 25% on site affordable housing provision.

Miller Homes website
St. Modwen Homes website

Images: Miller Homes / Google Maps

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News: Rotherham office building turned down for church use goes up for auction

An office building in Rotherham where plans to convert it into a place of worship were refused by the local council, is set to be sold at an upcoming auction.

Reresby House, a 24,000 sq ft two-storey office building in Templeborough has been given a £595,000 guide price by BTG Eddisons Property Auction.

Rothbiz reported in January that Rotherham Council ruled that plans from Hope Church were "incompatible" with surrounding industrial uses.

Home to tenants including safety equipment supplier S3 ID, approximately half of Reresby House is currently let, generating a rental income of £60,000 per year.

The property, which also has a 70-space car park, will feature in the upcoming multi-lot timed auction, with bidding opening on April 28 and closing the following day.

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James Vandenbrook, associate director at BTG Eddisons Property Auctions, said: “Reresby House is a great investment opportunity in one of Rotherham’s most up and coming commercial areas.

“Just this month the £10m nearby Magna tram-train station has opened, improving transportation in this busy employment area, with the proposed Gateway station due to be developed in the next few years too. That will connect Templeborough to the mainline rail services, proving a major boost to the Don Valley corridor between Rotherham and Sheffield.

“Meanwhile, you also have the Templeborough Business Zone in the pipeline, which will bring over £8m of new investment to the area in the form of workspace units for small businesses. This is certainly a great time to acquire business space in Templeborough and, not surprisingly, we are seeing good levels of interest in this property.”

Hope Church had planned to buy the building, if it could secure planning permission.

The church's plans showed how Reresby House, previously home to business support agencies including RiDO and Business Link, could accommodate a main audatorium and workshop space on the ground floor with further workshop and office space on the first floor to support the church's religious and community services.

Refusing the change of use, planning officers at Rotherham Council said they had "substantial concerns that the proposed use would see the loss of a commercial unit on a strategically placed industrial estate, of which part of the building is still occupied.

"Any alternative use would result in the loss of an important asset within a well-established and sought after employment estate."

Also heading to the same auction is a vacant unit on the historic High Street in Rotherham town centre. 23 High Street is a three storey building of 3,032 sq ft latterly used as a restaurant. Giving it a guide price of £105,000+, auctioneers say that the upper floors provide "excellant opportunity for conversion / development potential."

1a Wellgate, another empty town centre property, is also set to go under the hammer. With 1,200 sq ft over ground and first floor, the lot has a guide price of £87,000+.

BTG Eddisons Property Auctions website

Images: BTG Eddisons Property Auctions / Google Maps

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News: Firm applies for environmental permit at Rotherham site following complaints

The Environment Agency is due to decide whether to grant a permit regarding glass recycling at a site in Rotherham.

The process takes place after operators where served with a statutory abatement order following complaints from nearby residents.

Universal Glass Ltd operates from Rotherham Road in Dinnington. The permit application for non-hazardous waste recycling states that the site includes nine buildings, only two of which would be used for the storage and processing of waste. The others are used as an office, site maintenance and weighbridge etc.

Aplicants say that the throughput of the site is proposed to be less than 75,000 tonnes a year, targeting "wastes consisting predominantly of glass, with smaller fractions of packaging materials."

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Delivered by HGVs, waste would be crushed and screened outside with a second screening inside. Once treated, the materials will be considered a specified, saleable product, and would no longer constitute a waste. Different products would be separately stockpiled and bagged before being loaded to HGVs for onward delivery.

Permitted work would be carried out 8:00 to 17:00 Monday to Friday and 8:00 to 16:00 on Saturdays.

Consultants for Universal Glass, MPG say that: "All activities will be conducted in accordance with Environment Agency Guidance.

"There are no emissions arising from the proposed activities. However, the storage, handling and treatment of waste hasthe potential to generate dust and noise emissions" adding that with high concrete block walls, no adverse impact is predicted. Installing hoods on feed hoppers, misting systems or water sprays could also minimise dust.

Responding to the consultation for the permit, Jake Richards, MP for the area, is raising the concerns of constituents. The Rother Valley MP said: "Over the past 14 months, residents living near the site have repeatedly contacted me as their local Member of Parliament to raise concerns about a persistent and often very strong odour affecting the surrounding area.

"It has also been reported to me that Environmental Health officers have attended the area and have experienced the odour themselves. In addition, residents have submitted more than 100 impact statements describing the severity of the issue and the effect it has had on their daily lives. The volume of reports clearly demonstrates the level of concern within the community.

"There remains a lack of confidence locally that the issues will be adequately addressed without further scrutiny."

Respondents also raise issues regarding dust and glass particles from the operations, with some reporting breathing difficulties.

Rotherham councillors have previously discussed motions of no confidence in the Environment Agency on issues such as flooding in Catcliffe and Treeton and Droppingwell Tip in Kimberworth.

Images: Google Maps

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News: AESSEAL helps youngsters Get Up to Speed with the rise of the robots

Rotherham manufacturing firm, AESSEAL furthered its commitment to develop the engineers and industry leaders of the future as Gold Sponsor of Get Up to Speed with STEM (GUTS) for the ninth consecutive year.

More than 7,000 students from across the region attended the two-day event last month – the largest of its type in the region – at Magna Science Adventure Centre in Rotherham.

Organised by The Work-wise Foundation, Get Up to Speed provides a platform for young people to connect with businesses, explore science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers, engage with industry professionals, and interact with some of the UK's most exciting innovations.

This year’s theme was Stronger Together: The Power of Collaboration – People, Robots & Productivity.

The event had its first day designed for secondary school aged people and above, with primary school pupils aged eight and over and children with special education needs and disabilities (SEND) touring the exhibition and attractions on the second day.

AESSEAL is one of the world's leading specialists in the design and manufacture of mechanical seals, bearing protectors, seal support systems and gland packing. With its global headquarters at Templeborough, the award-winning company manufactures mechanical seals for a wide range of industries, including oil and gas, food, water, mining and pharmaceuticals.

AESSEAL head of UK learning and development Darren Jones said: "We have around 26 different apprenticeships available at any one time. This is about giving young people the opportunity to look at these roles and see if they are a good fit. Employment should be for everybody and we want to tap into the local talent pool and give everybody the chance to have a successful career."

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As well as continuing to invest in talent, AESSEAL has invested in a multimillion pound Factory for the Future - a state-of-the-art, 60,000 sq ft extension that has almost doubled the site capacity. The expansion was coupled with new robots to help the company to increase productivity by automating mundane processes and free up people for highly skilled work.

Much of the talk at Get Up to Speed was about robots and AI.

AESSEAL IT machine learning developer Elliot Fisher told attendees how AI can save time and increase production through working with humans. He said: "At AESSEAL when we talk about AI we talk about it as if it is just another member of the team. We want to give it a clear role with clear borders and transparency with human oversight. It will only do the job we have told it to do and know when to hand control back. AI will do the heavy lifting, and I think that’s what ‘stronger together’ means. It isn’t going to be humans or AI. It is going to be humans and AI.

AESSEAL CAM mechatronics engineer Lewis Hardy said that there was a huge skills crisis in engineering, but AESSEAL had invested £4.3m in robotic cells, and added: “As people we are very good at making decisions and carrying out manual tasks, and a robot is only as good at making decisions as the engineer who programmed it. We are at the very early stages of adapting automation into manufacturing.”

AESSEAL website

Images: AESSEAL

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News: South Yorkshire set to receive £1.3 billion

The South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) has agreed a set of outcomes with Government to be delivered using £1.3 billion in devolved funding.

Called the integrated settlement, the funding backs a government strategy that provides local areas with a mandate "to act strategically to drive growth as well as support the shaping of public services, where strategic level coordination adds value."

The funding covers key themes such as economic development and regeneration, skills, transport and local infrastructure, and housing and strategic planning. It provides the combined authority with a much greater degree of certainty over medium term financial planning. SYMCA will also receive unprecedented powers of funding flexibility, which means that it will be able to move money between pillars as required to help achieve outcomes.

Developed alongside the new South Yorkshire Strategy and a Local Growth Plan, officials in the region have also developed an Integrated Settlement Outcomes Framework (ISOF) - a list of outcomes, indicators and targets that align with the wider ambitions set out in the strategy and growth plan.

The framework states: "SYMCA exists to deliver inclusive, sustainable growth that improves the lives of people across Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield. Our vision is to build a bigger and better economy, ensuring that all communities can share in our prosperity.

"Our ambitions are set out in the emerging South Yorkshire Strategy, which provides the overarching direction for our work. Everything we do is intended to help deliver its three ambitions:
1. Every resident can stay near and go far
2. South Yorkshire is the healthiest region in the country
3. Every community is connected and proud of its place."

With the £1.3 billion budgeted for the next four years, SYMCA has headline aims to support hundreds more businesses and create hundreds more jobs.

For example, the funding will be used on initiatives that help 400 businesses to increase productivity with 400 jobs created in local priority sectors. SYMCA interventions within the Investment Zone are also targeted to unlock further commercial floorspace.

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On transport, where SYMCA is leading on multimillion pound bus franchising plans, targets have been agreed for two million more bus passengers and one million more tram passengers per year, as well as increases in passenger satisfaction levels.

Increasing the number of government-subsidised EV charging devices and the number of miles on the region's active travel network are also included.

Adult skills is another key area for investment, with SYMCA backed schemes targeting more than 27,000 achievements at a level 1 qualification and 29,000 at level 2. The target for level 3 is 2,700 by March 2029.

Supporting people into employment will also continue to be funded. Here, 9,632 is the target for the number of starts on supported employment programmes.

For housing, where previous schemes have supported new housing on brownfield land, the target is 800 new homes starting on site over the next four years.

A SYMCA report explains: "The Integrated Settlement represents the most significant change in SYMCA’s funding environment since its inception in 2014, moving us away from a fragmented funding structure to a more consolidated and flexible one.

"The process of agreeing outcomes, indicators and targets required us to balance local and central government ambitions and ensure that the targets are achievable with the funds available through Integrated Settlement.

"The outcomes, indicators and targets agreed in the ISOF do not represent everything we care about in South Yorkshire. The activity represented in the ISOF reflects the funding streams included in Integrated Settlement. The South Yorkshire Strategy will provide the opportunity to represent the region’s broader ambitions."

SYMCA is set to be held to account through six-monthly programme boards with Government but there is provision for renegotiating targets, by exception, in the event that delivery against targets is not on track.

The integrated settlement brings together large funding pots, such as Transport for City Regions, Adult Skills Fund, National Housing Delivery Fund, Local Growth Fund, and Investment Zone funding.

SYMCA website

Images: SYMCA

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