News: Rotherham mainline timeline
Rotherham Council has accepted over £11m to develop a Full Business Case for the Rotherham Gateway Station regeneration scheme, but what will that involve, and what is included the first phase of the masterplan?
Allthough the funding is coming from regional funding pots such as the City and Regions Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS) via the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (MCA), the project is still a retained scheme within central government and required ministerial and treasury approval which came last month with the annoucement on Northern Powerhouse Rail.
With funding already secured for acquiring land, a masterplan was completed that set out a phased 20 year vision for a £300m regeneration scheme.
Rotherham Council is already working on a Strategic Programme Business Case which outlines the vision, providing estimated costs for each phase and the related outputs and outcomes. It also details land acquisition requirements, and the priority projects needed to progress the first phase. It will align with the development of the Station Full Business Case for approval by SYMCA and the Department for Transport.
The first phase includes the main line station, tram-train stop and the floormat between them, including station building and a potential RiDO business centre plus provision for a user-friendly multi-modal transport interchange.
Over the next year, designs will be drafted for the first phase with contractors appointed and a delivery programme agreed. At the same time, train operators will be secured with commitments to stop at the new gateway station.
Other aspects of the full business case relate to developing a wider transport strategy, securing funding for the scheme and completing the land acquisitions.
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A council paper confirms that one of the three required interests has already been acquired, and negotiations are progressing well with landowners of the two remaining sites. The council is considering using compulsory purchase powers if required.
Detailed designs and updated costs are set to be completed by March 2027 with the full business case ready to be submitted in December 2027.
The masterplan shows four phases: year 0 - 5; year 5 - 15; year 15 - 20; and year 20 and beyond.
At the heart of phase 1 is the station quarter and the station building. Rotherham Gateway is expected to be a Category C/D station - and important feeder / medium staffed station with consultants estimating annual footfall to be 0.609 million (access) and 0.584 million (egress). By comparison, Sheffield Station is a Category A station, and Rotherham Central and Swinton are in catergory E.
The Station Quarter, the minimum requirement for station operation, is set for land which is currently Northfields Business Park, which features a stop on the main line and on the line that carries the tram-train. It will also include a station building, a 150 space car park, space for buses and taxis and bridges over the two lines.
The masterplan states: "Approaching from Forge Way, visitors and passengers will be greeted by the station building on the ground floor next to an open green plaza. Visitors will also have a clear and direct pedestrian and cycle link that leads them from the mainline station to the tram-train stop, and further along the canal and into the town centre."
Work continues on a potential business centre within the station building providing "a unique opportunity to become incubator spaces, which will help to catalyse the development of the Innovation Campus" in future phases. There would also be the opportunity for F&B (food and beverage) or retail on the ground level as well as commercial use on upper levels of the station building.
Complimentary development work is also set to be carried out on public realm in the station quarter and a Strategic Outline Business Case has been prepared for a comprehensive scheme that improves access from the Station to the town centre - an active travel route along Effingham Street with enhanced crossings at Centenary Way.
Other early work includes connections to Mangham Way and potential improvements to an underpass to the North East of the site that is currently susceptible to flooding.
Rotherham Council hopes to open the new station by late 2030, and believes it will bring 1,000 highly-skilled jobs and more than £1bn of private investment in the future phases which include proposals for an innovation campus with 180,000 sq ft of commercial space, a multi-storey car park and a living quarter with 205 flats and 37 houses.
Council papers explain: "The Gateway scheme is crucial to the Don Valley Growth Corridor – a key aspiration and priority for SYMCA, highlighted in their recent Plan for Good Growth. The Rotherham Gateway area alongside Bassingthorpe Farm and Templeborough will contribute to the wider economic corridor, with Gateway being a catalyst to "kickstart" development and investment in the wider region."
Rotherham Gateway website
Images: RMBC
Allthough the funding is coming from regional funding pots such as the City and Regions Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS) via the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (MCA), the project is still a retained scheme within central government and required ministerial and treasury approval which came last month with the annoucement on Northern Powerhouse Rail.
With funding already secured for acquiring land, a masterplan was completed that set out a phased 20 year vision for a £300m regeneration scheme.
Rotherham Council is already working on a Strategic Programme Business Case which outlines the vision, providing estimated costs for each phase and the related outputs and outcomes. It also details land acquisition requirements, and the priority projects needed to progress the first phase. It will align with the development of the Station Full Business Case for approval by SYMCA and the Department for Transport.
The first phase includes the main line station, tram-train stop and the floormat between them, including station building and a potential RiDO business centre plus provision for a user-friendly multi-modal transport interchange.
Over the next year, designs will be drafted for the first phase with contractors appointed and a delivery programme agreed. At the same time, train operators will be secured with commitments to stop at the new gateway station.
Other aspects of the full business case relate to developing a wider transport strategy, securing funding for the scheme and completing the land acquisitions.
Advertisement
A council paper confirms that one of the three required interests has already been acquired, and negotiations are progressing well with landowners of the two remaining sites. The council is considering using compulsory purchase powers if required.
Detailed designs and updated costs are set to be completed by March 2027 with the full business case ready to be submitted in December 2027.
The masterplan shows four phases: year 0 - 5; year 5 - 15; year 15 - 20; and year 20 and beyond.
At the heart of phase 1 is the station quarter and the station building. Rotherham Gateway is expected to be a Category C/D station - and important feeder / medium staffed station with consultants estimating annual footfall to be 0.609 million (access) and 0.584 million (egress). By comparison, Sheffield Station is a Category A station, and Rotherham Central and Swinton are in catergory E.
The Station Quarter, the minimum requirement for station operation, is set for land which is currently Northfields Business Park, which features a stop on the main line and on the line that carries the tram-train. It will also include a station building, a 150 space car park, space for buses and taxis and bridges over the two lines.
Work continues on a potential business centre within the station building providing "a unique opportunity to become incubator spaces, which will help to catalyse the development of the Innovation Campus" in future phases. There would also be the opportunity for F&B (food and beverage) or retail on the ground level as well as commercial use on upper levels of the station building.
Complimentary development work is also set to be carried out on public realm in the station quarter and a Strategic Outline Business Case has been prepared for a comprehensive scheme that improves access from the Station to the town centre - an active travel route along Effingham Street with enhanced crossings at Centenary Way.
Rotherham Council hopes to open the new station by late 2030, and believes it will bring 1,000 highly-skilled jobs and more than £1bn of private investment in the future phases which include proposals for an innovation campus with 180,000 sq ft of commercial space, a multi-storey car park and a living quarter with 205 flats and 37 houses.
Council papers explain: "The Gateway scheme is crucial to the Don Valley Growth Corridor – a key aspiration and priority for SYMCA, highlighted in their recent Plan for Good Growth. The Rotherham Gateway area alongside Bassingthorpe Farm and Templeborough will contribute to the wider economic corridor, with Gateway being a catalyst to "kickstart" development and investment in the wider region."
Rotherham Gateway website
Images: RMBC
8 comments:
Not anytime soon if it’s late ‘2030s’ not 2030 !
Any chance of allowing the picture to expand when you click on it please?
I thought the original timescale was late 2030, the year, not the late 2030s!
I agree, any images posted on here are near enough useless, they're always too small to be able to see any details and there's no way to enlarge them.
It says late 2030 not 2030s.
yes it does now because it has been corrected by the author following my post without acknowledgement
right click, magnify image
https://moderngov.rotherham.gov.uk/documents/s156166/Appendix%202_Rotherham%20Gateway%20Masterplan_Overview.pdf
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