News: Transport issues over £40m Rotherham MSA

Transport officers at Rotherham Council have been convinced that proposals for a new motorway service area (MSA) on the M1 would not have a severe impact on the local road network.

However, Highways England has asked for any decision on the plans to be delayed and the applicants behind rival proposals for an MSA in Sheffield continue to object.

Applegreen plc, a major petrol forecourt retailer in the Republic of Ireland with a significant and growing presence in the UK, submitted outline plans for Junction 33 of the M1 at Catcliffe in Rotherham in 2017. The proposals would create 300 jobs.

Highways England, the Government-owned company that operates, maintains and improves England's motorways and major A roads, initially asked for further details on the proposals and its impacts on the M1 and the A630 Parkway.

Currently scrub land on either side of the motorway, the plans, produced by Hadfield Cawkwell Davidson, are for HGV parking and amenities to the north of the M1 with customer parking and amenities for other motorway users to the south of the M1, via an underpass. The site is zoned for mixed use and previous plans for a hotel and pub were approved but never implemented.

Now an updated transport assessment has been published with further modelling of the motorway junction undertaken to assess the impact of the development associated with the likely increases in traffic in the local area.

Including updated data now that the M1 is a Smart motorway and updated modeling, the applicants have assessed the number of vehicles that are likely to visit the services and the effects of any mitigation.

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£1.4m was secured from the Department for Transport (DfT) to develop plans for the area. Work has taken place to widen exit slip roads and roundabouts at Junction 33 and Rotherham's capital strategy includes a £45m plan to widen the Parkway to three lanes between the M1 and Catcliffe. The MSA proposals have been developed to ensure that the A630 scheme can be delivered to programme and can progress independently or in parallel with the developing access strategy for the proposed MSA site.

Access to the site is set to be via a new entrance on the Rotherham side of the roundabout passing through an area of Greenbelt. The exit is via a proposed connecting slip road to the south of the site, which leads back to the Sheffield side of the roundabout. Following discussions with Highways England and the Council, updated plans include an additional entry lane to the junction from M1 northbound and extra lanes to help with queuing.

Steve Brown of the Council's highways team states that the measures proposed will reduce the level to which the motorway junction is over capacity and reduce the delays to vehicles travelling through the junction. Regarding the Rotherway roundabout at Canklow, the "residual cumulative impact on this junction would not be regarded as severe."

Brown concludes: "While any additional trips on the road local to the site may be within the theoretical daily variation they will have a modest and incremental adverse impact on congestion and the movement of traffic. There are proposals to mitigate these impacts at the Motorway junction with complementary works aligned with the Parkway scheme, as well as the travel plan which proposes an insignificant reduction in single-occupant car use.

"On balance the traffic impact of the development is expected to be slight when compared to the impact of background growth to 2030."

Highways England has again asked for a decision on the application be delayed for a further six months, adding that there "are outstanding traffic and transportation matters being considered."

Rival operator, Extra MSA, has been in a long-running planning battle for a site at Smithy Wood in Sheffield. Regarding the Rotherham plans, Extra MSA believe that "Junction 33 is not a viable or deliverable location for a MSA" and that the updated transport assessment "does little to allay our concerns and continues to present a flawed position with regard to the impact of the development on the highway network at and around Junction 33."

Applegreen website

Images: Hadfield Cawkwell Davidson

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News: Rivals object to £40m Rotherham motorway service area plans

The applicants behind rival proposals for a new motorway service area (MSA) on the M1 in Sheffield have lodged an objection to outline plans for a new MSA in Rotherham.

Rothbiz revealed first that landowners and developers believe that their site at Junction 33 of the M1 at Catcliffe in Rotherham is preferable to the site at Junction 35 in Sheffield where a long-running planning battle continues.

Applegreen plc, a major petrol forecourt retailer in the Republic of Ireland with a significant and growing presence in the UK, submitted outline plans to Rotherham Council in September 2017. The proposals would create 300 jobs.

The Smithy Wood plans from operator, Extra MSA, have attracted opposition due to the impact on ancient woodland. It is understood that a decision on the Sheffield plans is unlikely to be made before one is made on the Rotherham plans.

As it travels through the planning process, Highways England, the Government-owned company that operates, maintains and improves England's motorways and major A roads, has asked for further details on the proposals and its impacts on the M1 and the A630 Parkway. This is likely to delay any decision on the plans for six months.

Extra MSA believe that Junction 33 is "not a viable or deliverable location for an MSA," having ruled the site out themselves before selecting their own site at Junction 35. The firm said that this was based on being unable to design safe and satisfactory access and the various physical constraints such as the underpass to link the two sides of the site.

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The firm goes on to highlight that an MSA could add somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 additional traffic movements per day to the junction which would have a significantly adverse impact.

The Parkway from Rotherham to Sheffield is one of the most congested routes in the UK. £1.4m was secured from the Department for Transport (DfT) to develop plans for the area. Work has taken place to widen exit slip roads and roundabouts at Junction 33 and Rotherham's capital strategy includes a £45m plan to widen the Parkway to three lanes between the M1 and Catcliffe.

In its objection letter, Extra MSA goes on to say: "Looking more widely, there is little doubt that locating a new MSA facility at Junction 33 would seriously impede the ongoing development of the regionally significant Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District by consuming much needed Junction capacity that could otherwise be used by higher value developments."

Sheffield Chamber of Commerce and Sheffield Business Park have also lodged objections, raising concerns on its impact on the development of the Sheffield-Rotherham Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District (AMID).

Richard Wright, executive director at Sheffield Chamber of Commerce, said: "Junctions 33 and 34 are critical junctions for Sheffield and Rotherham. They are on the main access routes between our two conurbations and are critical to the development of important economic areas including the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) in Rotherham and the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District (AMID) which is in both Sheffield and Rotherham.

"We have serious concern about the increase in traffic volumes put forward by the application.

"We can see no allowance made for the increase in traffic caused by the successful exploitation of the AMP and AMID."

In its application, Applegreen included a detailed transport assessment which concluded that, with the new lanes and junction improvements, there would not be an exacerbation of current traffic conditions at Junction 33.

A decision on the plans is not expected until after March 30 2018.

Applegreen website

Images: Applegreen / Hadfield Cawkwell Davidson

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News: Rival MSA plans on the horizon

With plans for a proposed new £46m Motorway Services Area (MSA) at Junction 35 of the M1 in Sheffield finally set to go before the planning board, plans for a similar scheme a few miles away in Rotherham are being developed.

Landowners and developers believe that their site at Junction 33 of the M1 in Rotherham is preferable to the site at Smithy Wood, Cowley Hill just over the Rotherham border on the Chapeltown side of the motorway.

The Smithy Wood plans from operator, Extra MSA, have attracted opposition due to the impact on ancient woodland.

Now rival plans are coming forward from J33 Developments in a joint venture with Applegreen plc, a major petrol forecourt retailer in the Republic of Ireland with a significant and growing presence in the UK.

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A 7.25 hectare site, comprising of two areas of land at Junction 33 which are split by the M1 Motorway, has lapsed planning permission consent for a for a five storey hotel, a four storey hotel, a public house/restaurant, and a petrol filling station.

The plans, which date back to 2005, have not been built out and representations have been made through Rotherham's Local Plan Consultation to designate the site as suitable for a MSA. The Council has been considering removing the allocation.

The new proposals, which could include a hotel with a footprint of 4,400 sq ft and an amenity building with a footprint of 35,500 sq ft, are closely linked to a £45m plan to widen the Parkway to three lanes between the M1 and Catcliffe.

Indigo Planning, acting on behalf of the joint venture, state in its representations that the rival Extra MSA site at Junction 35 is "unsuitable for a MSA because it would constitute inappropriate development in the green belt and there are no very special circumstances which would clearly outweigh this harm. Furthermore, the development in the site would result in the loss of ancient woodland and a local wildlife site.

"The applicant's case that the need for a MSA outweighs any detrimental impacts cannot stand, given that an alternative site (ie Junction 33) is suitable and available for an MSA to satisfy this need.

"Given it is allocated and subject to an extant planning permission for uses found at a MSA, land at Junction 33 is clearly more appropriate for development than land at Junction 35. It is therefore the only available, suitable site to accommodate the required MSA."

Pegasus, on behalf of Extra MSA, have made representations stating that the Junction 33 site is too small for an MSA, that previous proposals don't constitute an MSA and there is not an acceptable highways solution.

Applegreen Plc and J33 Development are working on proposals to be the subject of a planning application later this year.

Applegreen plc website

Images: Applegreen / Indigo Planning

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News: Smithy Wood services consultation continues

Rotherham Council is again being consulted on plans for a proposed new £46m Motorway Services Area (MSA) at Junction 35 of the M1 in Sheffield.

Developer and operator, Extra MSA Group, submitted plans in 2014 for a new development on semi-mature woodland in the Green Belt at Smithy Wood, Cowley Hill just over the Rotherham border on the Chapeltown side of the motorway.

The plans included 33,000 sq ft of food court, ancillary retail and other customer facilities in addition to a 16 filling positions on the main forecourt and four filling positions on the HGV forecourt with forecourt shop, 639 parking spaces for cars, HGVs, coaches, caravans and motorcycles and an 80 bedroom hotel.

Developers say that the proposals will unlock a £46m investment and lead to 300 FTE job opportunities and £1m a year in business rates.

The creation of services does require the use of around 20 acres of existing woodland and the applicants had proposed to include the creation of a new 39 acre woodland with 60,000 new trees which will be open to the public for recreational use.

Updated plans included a large-scale area of up to 600 acres of new and existing woodland that would be managed sustainably over a minimum period of 50 years. One of these areas is to the south of Hesley Wood within the administrative boundary of Rotherham Council. This area covers some 8.97 hectares.

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Attracting opposition due to the loss of woodland, additional information was submitted to Sheffield City Council in October 2015. Since then, as a result of ongoing dialogue and discussions, further information and points of clarification have been provided.

The updated plans focus on the "need" for another service area in South Yorkshire and the economic and social benefits. Further studies have been carried out on the loss of ancient woodland and the visual impact of the development.

Rotherham Council has been asked for its views given the close proximity of the site to the borough. In its response to the 2014 plans, the Council stated that the proposal is unlikely to have a material adverse impact on highways in the Rotherham area but the reduction of ancient woodland should be considered to have an adverse impact on the integrity of the wider woodlands, including that within the Rotherham borough.

The issue of visual impact of the woodland clearing on views out of the borough from the Thorpe Hesley, Kimberworth and Wentworth areas was also raised.

Even with new mitigation and compensation proposals, Rotherham Council reached the same conclusion and raised objections to the 2015 proposals.

Regarding the loss of ancient woodland, the 2016 updates, drawn up by the Pegasus Group, state that any loss should be weighed up against the potential benefits of the development.

Additional landscape and technical work has been done with refinements to the design of the scheme relevant to landscape and visual impacts including: the reductions in building heights and lowered final ground levels within the parking areas; changes to the layout of the land use areas; and greater clarity on the proposals for retained and indicative planting areas.

Smithywood MSA website

Images: Extra MSA

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