News: Plans submitted to bring back big screen to Rotherham town centre

A planning application has been submitted for a big outdoor TV screen at Rotherham Council's latest multimillion pound regeneration scheme.

The idea was previously tried 20 years ago in a bid to attract more people into Rotherham town centre.

Rothbiz reported first on the authority's plan for a big TV screen as part of the new library and markets redevelopment scheme which has also enhanced the town centre's public realm and events space.

A planning application has now been submitted by Scanlite - a company that specialises in digital signage solutions including LED signage and electronic signage.

The plans show that, if approved, the internally illuminated SMD LED digital display would be installed on the wall of the recently opened market hall, between the entrances and facing the new public realm area that has been created between the market and Eastwood Lane and the college campus.

The screen is some 3.5 metres high by 6.5 metres wide.

Advertising consent would run until October 2031.

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An earlier council cabinet report stated: "The [Eastwood Lane] area represents a valuable events and leisure asset with the potential to become a defining feature of the town centre. A complementary enhancement is proposed, in the form of a large outdoor screen to strengthen the town centre offer by supporting major sporting broadcasts, national events and inclusion within the local events programme."

The council's cabinet recently approved further funding as the overall budget for the town centre scheme had risen again to £46.84m.

The idea is a reboot of the large screen installed in All Saints' Square in 2005.

The previous big screen was originally set to be purchased by Rotherham Council, working with ADI, the screen manufacturer, who retained advertising income. The BBC joined the project in 2006 to provide content.

The 5m x 5m screen was used to show a mix of local information, events promotion, community footage, films, festive content, cultural events such as ballet and opera performances, and live sports including the World Cup and the Olympic Games.

By 2009, cabinet members were considering the removal of the big screen due to the contractual situation, limited access to programmes, poor picture quality and budgetary savings.

For the summer of 2026, Rotherham Council hosted a giant screen in Snail Yard on the High Street for two weeks to show live Test cricket and a selection of family films.

Images: Scanlite

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News: "Little Vegas" planned for Rotherham town centre

A vacant former bank in Rotherham town centre could be about to get a new use, if plans are approved.

The former Alliance & Leicester and Santander branch at 19 College Street was most recently used as a family arcade.

Now a planning application has been submitted for a change of use that would enable a 24 hour adult gaming centre to take on the premises.

The application is from London-based Chongie Entertainment UK Ltd which trades as Little Vegas and Little Macau.

A relatively new entrant in the adult gaming centre (AGC) UK market, the Little Vegas brand was established in 2020 and now has 18 venues, mainly across the South East of England.

The website explains: "Little Vegas brings the feel of the casino right to your local high street. We offer the latest slot machine games, giving players an authentic and modern gaming experience."

If approved, the 1,500 sq ft unit would be brought back to life with rows of modern video slot machines around the edge with two islands of screens in the middle of the gaming centre.

A new lobby, toilet and coffee station are also shown on the plans which would create 7.5 FTE jobs.

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In September 2024 the Freehold for 16 - 20 College Street went to auction with Allsop as a shop investment with vacant offices above. The property was given a guide price of £215,000 and was sold following the auction.

The building includes vacant former solicitors offices at 2,199 sq ft which benefits from its own entrance onto All Saints Square and two now vacant commercial units on the ground floor at 5,273 and 1,400 sq ft.

Planning approval was secured last year to convert the office space at First and Second Floor Level into nine self-contained apartments.

Rothbiz reported in 2022 that Merkur Slots had opened in a vacant unit in Rotherham town centre following a partly successful planning appeal. It wanted a 24 hour operation but was restricted to operating between the hours of 8am and midnight.

In 2023, Royal Amusements secured planning permission for a vacant unit on Effingham Street for an AGC. Planners concluded that: "There is no doubt that the proposed use would not generate the level of footfall from a retail use, but in comparison to a vacant premises this would still be a benefit, including associated linked trips and employment."

Rotherham Council said that a 24-hour a day operation could not be supported and a condition was imposed to ensure that an otherwise unacceptable development could be made acceptable by limiting the opening hours to between 8am and midnight. An Adult Gaming Centre Premises Licence enabling 24 hour use of Category B machines here was approved by the Council's Licencing team earlier this year.

Little Vegas website

Images: BRH

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News: How much Ron Hull paid for CF Booth, the massive Rotherham scrap yard, and Millmoor

An administrator's report has revealed further details of the deal which saw the sale of the business and assets of historic Rotherham firm, CF Booth Limited, to Hu11 Limited, a subsidiary of Ron Hull Jnr Limited.

James Lumb and Howard Smith from Interpath were appointed joint administrators to CF Booth Limited, one of the UK’s leading metal recycling companies, in January. A number of the company's subsidiaries entered administration in the following months.

All eight companies were acquired by Hu11 Limited in March. The transactions for subsidiaries, Demex and Albion Jones, were going concern sales, allowing the demolition business to continue operations.

Administrators say that, following an accelerated marketing and sale process, six bidders were shortlisted based on value, confirmed funding and the ability to complete within the required timeframe. A sale of substantially all of the group's business and assets was concluded to Hu11 Limited for total consideration of £13.77m exclusive of VAT.

The administrator's report shows that £7.25m was for the freehold of the Armer Street premises - the 35-acre site at Masbrough which includes the Clarence Metal Works and Rotherham United's former home, Millmoor.

£3.4m was for plant and machinery, with the rest for other properties, stock and vehicles.

29 staff moved over as part of the demolition businesses but 149 were made redundant.

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As previously reported by Rothbiz, CF Booth had £46m debts when it entered administration.

The business experienced substantial operational and financial headwinds, including sharp rises in energy costs and pronounced volatility in copper prices.

One of the group's largest debt was with IGF, which only provided a £20m asset-based lending facility in 2025. The debt totalled £14.2m and administrators confirm that IGF has been repaid in full from a combination of book debt collections and the sale of business proceeds.

£1.24m remained outstanding to HMRC in outstanding VAT, PAYE and National Insurance Contributions with Interpath expecting that they should receive a dividend.

£30.6m was owed to unsecured creditors. Administrators say: "Based on current estimates, we anticipate that unsecured creditors should receive a dividend. We have yet to determine the amount of this, but we will do so when we have completed the realisation of assets and payment of associated costs.

"It is intended that the Company will be placed into creditors' voluntary liquidation in order to make a distribution to the unsecured creditors prior to the end date of the administration, which is 15 January 2027."

Unsecured creditors in administration are suppliers, customers, or contractors without security for their debt, ranking at the bottom of the repayment priority list.

The unsecured creditors list released previously included £3.5m - Employees, £14.3m - Intercompany creditors and another £2.2m - Other HMRC and HSE Fines & Penalties. Company trade creditors were listed with the total owed at £8.2m.

Whilst trading, CF Booth received notice that its appeal against an historical VAT Penalty assessment dating back a decade was unsuccessful resulting in a penalty of £1.4m becoming payable to HMRC. C F Booth Ltd was then fined £1.2m by the HSE after an investigation following the death of an employee on site.

Administrators add that they are "reviewing the affairs of the Company to find out if there are any actions which can be taken against third parties to increase recoveries for creditors.

"We have considered matters raised by creditors, reviewed transactions involving connected parties, assessed the Company's governance and record-keeping practices, analysed information relating to asset disposals and creditor treatment, and investigated matters requiring further enquiry in accordance with our statutory obligations.

"Significant time has also been spent reviewing and assessing information received from third parties, including creditor representations, professional advisers and government agencies, together with preparing and submitting our report on the conduct of the directors to the Insolvency Service, which is confidential."

Since concluding the deal, Ron Hull moved quickly to take on the fully operational rail siding which has enabled the provider of a range of metal recovery and waste recycling services to offer decommissioned rail stack handling and the sale and loading of scrap metal via rail.

Buildings on the site, considered to be in poor condition and surplus to requirements, were earmarked for demolition and planning permission was secured to demolish the stands and structures at Millmoor. Work started on the historic football stadium last month.

Ron Hull website

Images: Google Maps / RUFC

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News: £3m contract sees consultants get on board for Rotherham Gateway regeneration scheme

Rotherham Council has appointed industry-leading consultants for a £300m regeneration project that centres on bringing mainline rail services back to the borough.

Rothbiz has previously reported on the 20-year masterplan for Rotherham Gateway which showed how a transport improvement scheme can act as the catalyst for a much wider project supporting thousands of new jobs.

Integrated with a new tram-train stop, the station at Parkgate would bring faster rail connections. A new mainline rail station at Forge Way would deliver faster links to Birmingham, Sheffield, Leeds, and Doncaster, unlocking wider regional and national connectivity. The aim is for journey times to Leeds to be cut from 60 minutes to 30 minutes and to be 75 minutes to Birmingham.

Station opening has been pencilled in for "late 2030" with the four-phase masterplan showing two platforms, with passive provision for four, to support future growth.

Perfect Circle JV Ltd has now been appointed as the lead consultant on a contract that covers a wide range of programme management, masterplanning and cost consultancy.

The Rotherham contract is worth up to a maximum of £3.1m.

Formed as an incorporated joint venture company in 2016, Perfect Circle combines innovation with governance, collaboration and excellence to deliver the broadest range services to the public sector. Principal partners - Pick Everard, Gleeds and AECOM - brought in a number of preferred partners to expand the framework solutions, with more than 35,000 professionals across multiple disciplines, offering a depth of technical resource to meet every need.

The appointment combines with the recruitment for the project team, including a Land Acquisition Project Manager, a Rail Project Manager and a Station & Public Realm Project Manager.

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Rothbiz reported in July that a phased approach starts with the Station Quarter, on land which is currently Northfields Business Park, which features the mainline station, tram-train station, public realm, car parking, northern access via new bridges, and the station anchor building - essentially covering the development of the station core area.

Outside the core area, an active travel route along Effingham Street will connect the town centre to the station as Phase 1a.

Project design work on the early phases will continue to December 2027.

The work is to support and compliment the development of a Full Business Case which has already secured £11.38m via South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) for its development. £10m was previously secured for land acquisition.

Stage 2 of the contract will form the main body of the commission and will see Perfect Circle operate a multi-disciplinary team for just over three years.

Further phases of the masterplan involve the creation of an innovation campus on plots of land near the station, and the introduction of new housing in the area.

The contract documents explain: "The Rotherham Gateway project is a multi-phased scheme to bring mainline rail services back to the Borough. Alongside the transport elements which also includes a new tram/train stop the scheme also delivers 300 new homes and an industry ecosystem, similar to the Advanced Manufacturing Park, associated car parking and public realm.

"Consultants are expected to provide the following services: Lead Consultant; Programme Director; Programme Management Office; Project Management; Architectural, Design and Masterplanning.

"The Multi-Disciplinary consultancy will also provide: Cost Consultancy; Construction Design & Management role; Technical and Site Investigation."

Perfect Circle website

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News: Early stage plans for 100 houses on Rotherham village green belt site

A South Yorkshire housebuilder is eyeing up a large agricultural field on the edge of a small village in Rotherham.

Rotherham Council is no longer able to demonstrate a Five-Year Land Supply given the changes at a national level that have increased housing targets. The target for new house building per annum in Rotherham has increased from circa 560 dpa (Dwellings Per Annum) to 1,111 dpa.

Homes by Honey is bringing forward plans for a single 'L' shaped agricultural field at Harley which they say could be developed to deliver an indicative capacity of 102 houses.

The 3.8 hectare site is bounded by the A6135 and Harley Road, Harley Cricket Club and residential development in the village. It was designated as green belt in the 2018 local plan.

Planning agents, nineteen47, has begun pre-application discussions with Rotherham Council to gain advice before the submission of an outline planning application.

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Planning documents state: "The site is located in a broadly sustainable location on the edge of the settlement of Harley and benefits from public transport links and proximity to surrounding local services in Wentworth to the east and Sheffield to the south west.

"The site itself is well-defined and represents a logical rounding off of the settlement of Harley. The shape of the site offers the opportunity to provide a comprehensively designed proposal incorporating suitable drainage attenuation, highway upgrades and public rights of way to enhance the site's locational characteristics.

"Although the site lies within the Green Belt, updated national policy introduces greater flexibility for residential development where land constitutes 'grey belt', with the context of there being demonstrable housing need, such as a shortfall in five-year housing land supply. An initial grey belt assessment of the Site concludes that the Site has a limited contribution to Green Belt purposes."

In February, Rotherham Council refused a planning application for five new houses on a nearby plot of land at Harley Road. The building of houses on the green belt here was considered acceptable by council planners but the low density of the site was considered "to be contrary to the grain and character of the surrounding area and would likely lead to a poor form of development."

Honey launched in 2022 and is backed by private equity firm Alchemy Partners. It has previously brought forward sites in Rotherham at Waverley and Maltby.

Homes by honey website

Images: Google Maps

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