News: More government cash for Rotherham Gateway Station
Further funding is set to come down the line to support the multimillion pound Rotherham Gateway Station regeneration scheme.
Housing schemes around the Parkgate site, and the wider Bassingthorpe development nearby, are set to benfit.
The board at the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) has signed off on its priorities for new government funding to support housing, regeneration and employment growth in priority urban locations.
South Yorkshire has been allocated £85m from the City Densification Fund, an £800m government funding programme launched in Spring 2026 to help regional mayors unlock stalled urban housing and commercial developments.
Sheffield Moorfoot, Sheffield Station Campus and Rotherham Gateway have been identified as the initial priorities for the cash.
Integrated with a new tram-train stop, the Rotherham Gateway 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.
With opening pencilled in for "late 2030," the four-phase masterplan for the £300m scheme sets out that it could bring 1,000 highly-skilled jobs and support more than £1bn of private investment.
A paper to the SYMCA board states: "Following engagement with local authorities, Homes England and other delivery partners, a programme of work has been undertaken to identify eligible investment opportunities. In line with Government guidance, the City Densification Fund is intended to support development within city centres and locations associated with Northern Powerhouse Rail investment where viability barriers are preventing delivery. Candidate schemes were assessed against an agreed framework covering strategic fit, deliverability, additionality, leverage and phasing.
"Further development, due diligence and business case work is required before individual funding commitments can be considered through SYMCA's assurance framework."
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The report also seeks board approval on utilising the £118m for the region from the National Housing Delivery Fund (NHDF), a £21 billion fund that provides capital funding for infrastructure and land to support the government’s ambition to build 1.5 million new homes.
A pipeline initially identified 184 sites with potential for 32,000 new homes but this has been refined to 15 proposed "mini programmes."
Rotherham schemes making the list include "Rotherham Gateway," "Rotherham Town Centre Sites & Bassingthorpe Farm" and an "Affordable Housing Programme" for the borough.
With the programme already starting in April 2026, Strategic Business Cases (SBCs) will now been drawn up before individual schemes in these areas can come forward for funding.
Rothbiz reported last year that two "catalyst sites" in Rotherham were identified to spearhead the government's historic £39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme - Bassingthorpe Farm and Rotherham town centre. For South Yorkshire, an indicative spend, subject to suitable bids, was set out at £700m.
The Government recently updated national planning rules so that there is a default "yes" for homes within reasonable walking distance of well-connected stations, alongside new minimum expectations for how much housing should be built in these areas.
Images: RMBC
Housing schemes around the Parkgate site, and the wider Bassingthorpe development nearby, are set to benfit.
The board at the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) has signed off on its priorities for new government funding to support housing, regeneration and employment growth in priority urban locations.
South Yorkshire has been allocated £85m from the City Densification Fund, an £800m government funding programme launched in Spring 2026 to help regional mayors unlock stalled urban housing and commercial developments.
Sheffield Moorfoot, Sheffield Station Campus and Rotherham Gateway have been identified as the initial priorities for the cash.
Integrated with a new tram-train stop, the Rotherham Gateway 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.
With opening pencilled in for "late 2030," the four-phase masterplan for the £300m scheme sets out that it could bring 1,000 highly-skilled jobs and support more than £1bn of private investment.
A paper to the SYMCA board states: "Following engagement with local authorities, Homes England and other delivery partners, a programme of work has been undertaken to identify eligible investment opportunities. In line with Government guidance, the City Densification Fund is intended to support development within city centres and locations associated with Northern Powerhouse Rail investment where viability barriers are preventing delivery. Candidate schemes were assessed against an agreed framework covering strategic fit, deliverability, additionality, leverage and phasing.
"Further development, due diligence and business case work is required before individual funding commitments can be considered through SYMCA's assurance framework."
Advertisement
The report also seeks board approval on utilising the £118m for the region from the National Housing Delivery Fund (NHDF), a £21 billion fund that provides capital funding for infrastructure and land to support the government’s ambition to build 1.5 million new homes.
A pipeline initially identified 184 sites with potential for 32,000 new homes but this has been refined to 15 proposed "mini programmes."
Rotherham schemes making the list include "Rotherham Gateway," "Rotherham Town Centre Sites & Bassingthorpe Farm" and an "Affordable Housing Programme" for the borough.
With the programme already starting in April 2026, Strategic Business Cases (SBCs) will now been drawn up before individual schemes in these areas can come forward for funding.
Rothbiz reported last year that two "catalyst sites" in Rotherham were identified to spearhead the government's historic £39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme - Bassingthorpe Farm and Rotherham town centre. For South Yorkshire, an indicative spend, subject to suitable bids, was set out at £700m.
The Government recently updated national planning rules so that there is a default "yes" for homes within reasonable walking distance of well-connected stations, alongside new minimum expectations for how much housing should be built in these areas.
Images: RMBC
1 comments:
The increased speed to Leeds is much needed but trains to Sheffield and Doncaster are already fast enough, and realistically how many people in Rotherham will be wanting a direct link to Birmingham? It really needs a London link to be truly worthwhile.
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