Thursday, April 8, 2021

News: "The Whins" of change in Greasbrough

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Work is underway on a transport scheme that is poised to support the Bassingthorpe development in Rotherham.

But a nearby project for "The Whins" could lose out due to changes in Government funding.

The mini roundabout where Coach Road meets Main Street and Potter Hill is being replaced by a three-way crossroads, with traffic lights and dedicated left and right turn lanes, to relieve congestion at this busy junction.

To improve safety and encourage travel on foot and by bike, paths around the junction will be widened to provide cycle routes, and new crossings for pedestrians and cyclists will be installed.

Rotherham Council’s Assistant Director of Planning, Regeneration and Transport, Simon Moss, said: “The B6089 is a vital route linking the north of our borough and the Dearne Valley with Rotherham town centre and the wider road network. Reducing queues at this key junction in Greasbrough will improve air quality for local residents and improve journey times for travellers across the borough.”

In 2017, Rotherham Council approved an option to demolish Greasbrough Public Hall so that future road improvements could be carried out here. Papers showed at the time that the Council deemed that the strategic importance of improving the infrastructure around the proposed Bassingthorpe Farm development outweighed proposals to save the historic village hall.

Removed from the greenbelt, landowners have been looking at ways to bring forward 2,400 dwellings and 11 hectares for employment use.

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The new junction’s boundaries will extend onto the land where Greasbrough Town Hall used to stand, and this area will be landscaped and given new planting to provide a pleasant public space, as part of the scheme.

£2.45m has been secured from the SCR's Local Growth Fund and the work will be carried out by Esh Construction, on behalf of Rotherham Council. It will take place in two main phases:

- Phase 1 will construct the boundaries of the new junction, create surface water drainage systems and install new cycle and foot paths; this will take place between April and July 2021.
- Phase 2 will see construction of the new junction carriageways and installation of traffic lights and crossings; this will take place between November 2021 and spring 2022.

Between these two phases, utilities providers will move power and telecoms services.

To enable the work to take place, temporary traffic signals will be used; whenever possible use of these will be restricted to off-peak times and weekends.

It will also be necessary to close Coach Road westbound (towards Wingfield and Kimberworth) from 6 April 2021 and signed diversions will be in place.

Esh Construction’s Divisional Director, Steve Conn, said: “We are pleased to be appointed as the contractor for this project for Rotherham Council and will work with them to ensure any disruption is kept to a minimum for residents and road users. We ask for people to be patient and take care when travelling through the works until these improvements are completed.”

Esh Construction said that it is committed to engaging the local workforce and procuring from local suppliers to maximise the social and economic value of this scheme for Rotherham borough.

It is not clear what will happen to a further proposed scheme at the nearby area known as "The Whins."

The multimillion project is for a new roundabout at the triangular road layout on Cinder Bridge Road.

Discussed back in 2018 and also designed to support the Bassingthorpe area, the scheme was put forward for the Government's Pinch Point fund and was also dicussed for inclusion in the Sheffield City Region's (SCR's) slice of a Getting Building Fund.

The Pinch Point fund has now been superceded by the new Levelling Up Fund so areas are being encouraged to prioritise submitting high quality proposals that have been developed for the Pinch Point programme for the first round of the Levelling Up Fund.

Cllr. Chris Read, Labour Leader of Rotherham Council, said: "It is absolutely imperative that the government now makes clear the terms and conditions for the so-called Levelling Up Fund. How will they assess the bids? Will other schemes have to be scrapped first? It seems that the government is big on making these announcements, but their inability to deliver the goods is deeply concerning."



Images: RMBC / Google Maps

2 comments:

Anonymous,  April 8, 2021 at 10:29 AM  

Totally unneeded development.Another example of concreting over the countryside for benifit of greedy developers, when theres thousands of acres of brownfield sites to use. We'll never learn while planet is totally destroyed. We reap what we sow!

Anonymous,  April 8, 2021 at 2:34 PM  

I've yet to hear of a single person outside of the council in favour of the Bassingthorpe Farm development. It should never be allowed to happen.

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