News: Board approves housing plans for safeguarded Rotherham greenbelt site

Rotherham Council has approved plans for 228 new houses on farming land.

It is one of the first instances of "safeguarded land" being approved for development rather than land specifically allocated for residential use in the borough's local plan.

A number of applications have been submitted for safeguarded land across the borough. The 2018 local plan set out that they may be needed in the future and taken out of the greenbelt after the end of the plan period in 2028.

Planning consultants are hoping to convince the local planning authority that the land should be used now to address the borough's housing needs. The council agrees in policy terms, admitting that it 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.

This means that the council will need to support windfall planning applications on land allocated or designated for other uses within urban areas.

The most recently approved plans are for 12.12 hectares of land currently in agricultural use located to the north of Rawmarsh, off Priestley Avenue.

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Led by Taylor Wimpey, 228 houses are sought to be delivered in conjunction with Vico Homes (previously Wakefield District Housing), a Registered Provider. The development proposes a range of dwelling types and sizes, from two to two and a half storey scale in height and a mix of 2 bed (25%) 3 bed (70%) and 4 bed (5%) properties.

The main access to the proposed development will be via an extension of the existing stub off Priestley Avenue between properties 71 and 73.

44 representations were received, raising concerns regarding the use of the land, access and local infrastructure.

The plans were approved unanimously by the planning board at Rotherham Council and come with a number of conditions.

A Section 106 agreement (a mechanism which makes a development proposal acceptable in planning terms, that would not otherwise be acceptable) includes financial contributions for things like Primary School places, greenspaces, bus stops and traffic measures. For example work between the developer and council will address the junction of the A633 and Haugh Road.

The whole scheme is scheduled to be developed in conjunction with Vico Homes who are a Registered Social Landlord. However, a policy compliant scheme with formally allocated Affordable Housing is being proposed.

Vico argued that rigidly sticking to the policy was not viable in the current market and asked for a reduced proportion of 4- bedroom homes, with increased provision of 2- and 3- bedroom family housing, and a higher proportion of rented tenure in place of intermediate tenures, reflecting affordability barriers in the current mortgage market.

Vico and Taylor Wimpey worked together on the £28m housing development at nearby Kilnhurst Road which includes 135 homes, available for a mix of affordable rent, rent to buy and shared ownership. "St Mary's Field" was backed by grant funding from Homes England, the Government’s housing and regeneration agency.

Vico Homes website
Taylor Wimpey website

Images: Taylor Wimpey / Google Maps

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News: Housebuilder submits plans for development on safeguarded Rotherham greenbelt site

Land taken out of the greenbelt in Rotherham could be home to 231 houses, if plans submitted to Rotherham Council by a national housebuilder are approved.

The plans from Taylor Wimpey represent the use of "safeguarded land" rather than land specifically allocated for residential use in the borough's local plan.

The plans are for 12.12 hectares of land currently in agricultural use located to the north of Rawmarsh, off Priestley Avenue.

The application proposes 231 dwellings with a range of two, three and four bedroom homes, all of which are designated as affordable housing. Taylor Wimpey says that this mix supports various needs, from young professionals to families and those looking to downsize.

The application states: "The site is identified as Safeguarded land SL1. This means land that is set aside for development in case it is needed for development. Given the current housing shortage and the fact that the site is available and achievable now, it is considered to be an appropriate site to come forward in the short term for new homes."

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Bounded by existing residential properties to the south, the land is close to Warren Vale Community Woodland and Sandhill Park. Historically, the site was agricultural land until the western half was covered with ‘colliery spoil’ associated with adjacent colliery land. Rawmarsh Colliery and Victoria Colliery were located nearby.

When the land was taken out of the greenbelt the policy document stated that: "Further investigation and assessment will be required to determine suitable highways, cycle and pedestrian access. The site is adjacent to a landfill site and further investigation and potential mitigation measures will be required to address likely contamination and methane gas issues."

Connected land to the west, close to Warren Vale, will not be used as part of the housing development due to the potential for significant contamination relating to the presence of colliery spoil.

Access to the development is proposed to be taken from Priestley Avenue between number 71 and 73. Areas of public open space are shown to the northeast corner where a SuDS drainage is provided and in the southwest of the site where a play area is proposed.

Taylor Wimpey is hoping to bring forward the houses in conjunction with Wakefield District Housing (WDH), a registered provider of affordable housing. It echoes the £28m scheme the developer and provider are working on off Kilnhurst Road to provide 135 homes, available for a mix of affordable rent, rent to buy and shared ownership, managed by WDH. Taylor Wimpey had faced viability issues before teaming up with WDH who could access funding via Homes England.

Taylor Wimpey website

Images: Taylor Wimpey / Google Maps

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News: Taylor Wimpey submits plans for new Rotherham development

Taylor Wimpey PLC has submitted a detailed application for a 135 house development in Rotherham.

The national housebuilder wants to build the dwellings on land to the north of Kilnhurst Road, Rawmarsh, opposite Rawmarsh Sandhill Primary School.

A mix of house types is proposed - 26 2-bedroom units, 92 3-bedroom units, and 17 4-bedroom units.

Currently agricultural land, the principle of residential development has been deemed acceptable as the site is a housing allocation in Rotherham's adopted Local Plan.

Consultants, DLP Planning talk of a "visually attractive street scene that is welcoming to residents" created by architects on the scheme, Sten Architecture, and proposed shared spaces and a public open space area that will encourage social interaction.

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The plans state: "The development proposal - the design and layout of which is informed by a number of factors including the existing context of the surrounding area - comprises of 135 residential dwellings that will be of high architectural quality and design, and that will be constructed from quality building materials. These factors, combined with the proposed landscaping scheme and the mixture of house types and sizes throughout the site, will create a visually interesting and attractive street scene. Also, the proposed dwellings will provide comfortable living and amenity conditions for future residents, whilst ensuring that neighbouring amenity is not unacceptably impacted."

A single vehicular access point is proposed to serve the development from Kilnhurst Road and the submitted Transport Assessment concludes that the level of traffic generated by the proposals can be accommodated and will have no material impact on the safe operation of the local highway and will not significantly add to any congestion at the peak times on the local network.

The public open space is proposed to the north of the development with footpath links to provide access to the existing Public Right of Way to the north. A drainage basin is also proposed which will provide multifunctional benefits alongside facilitating surface water drainage, including the creation of biodiversity gains through planting.

Planning poilices in Rotherham state that the Council will seek 25% affordable homes on sites of 15 dwellings or more, subject to this being consistent with the economic viability of the development. Taylor Wimpey say that it is unviable for them to provide affordable housing as part of the proposed scheme.

Last year, Taylor Wimpey raised £500m through a share placing to allow it to pursue additional near term land acquisition opportunities.

Taylor Wimpey website

Images: Taylor Wimpey / Sten

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News: Further large Rotherham housing developments planned

Further planning applications have been submitted for hundreds of new houses across Rotherham.

Rothbiz reported last month that plans had been submitted by Barratt Homes in Dinnington, Bellway Homes in Swallownest and Avant Homes at Waverley.

Now a number of seperate planning applications have been submitted to Rotherham Council for sites across the borough.

At Kiveton Park, Strata Homes, is hoping to secure planning permission for close to 200 new homes on land at Chapel Way / Stockwell Avenue.

The application site comprises approximately 10.16 hectares of land between Kiveton Community Woodland and the existing housing estate. Currently comprising of arable land with a dense landscaped edge to the south, the site was put forward as residential use in the approved Local Development Plan.

The local plan had the site capable of some 268 homes but the Strata application is for 196 - a mix of detached, semi-detached and terraced units. It includes provision for affordable units, totalling 49 units and 147 open market units.

Pegasus, consultants for the housebuilder, state in the plans: "The scheme seeks to bring forward a viable scheme on a longstanding residential allocation. It is considered that the scheme will achieve the viable implementation of housing in Kiveton and will be a positive contribution to the Council’s housing delivery targets."

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Strata is also involved with progressing plans for new houses at Blue Man's Way in Catcliffe. In partnership with Strata, Great Places Housing is intending to access grant funding from Homes England to enable the 100% provision of affordable housing on the site.

Close to the Parkway and Morrison's, using the area for housing is contentious and a 2016 application for 64 houses was refused but later approved at appeal in February 2017. Nearby land to the south of the Site, adjacent to Morrison’s, has planning permission for 85 dwellings which is being delivered by Barratts as The Glassworks development.

The latest plans are for 76 dwellings, for shared ownership and rent, and will comprise a range of 1, 2, 3 and 4-bedroom units.

Residents of Blue Man's Way continue to register opposition to the plans to use the road as the main access to the new site.

At Dinnington, an outline application has been submitted for 46 houses on land to the rear 166 Swinston Hill Road. The site is near to where Taylor Wimpey secured planning permission for 157 houses last year.

The latest plans, from London-based T&J Wilkinson, are a revision of earlier plans for up to 35 houses.

In the North of the borough, Rothbiz understands that a national housebuilder has begun developing plans for a large number of houses at Pontefract Road / Barnsley Road.

Images: Google Maps

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News: Co-op lined up for new Rotherham retail development

A new local centre including a number of retail units is set to complement a housing development in Rotherham, if recently submitted plans are approved.

Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey completed a 280 home development near Rawmarsh, known as The Wickets, in 2018 and now a planning application has been submitted relating to a parcel of land nearby.

Mumbles Group, a privately owned property development company, is behind the proposals for the vacant land at Harding Avenue and Symonds Avenue which could see new shops, takeaways, restaurants and cafes open at the entrance to the new housing estate at Upper Haugh.

Described as a "new local centre" by planning consultants, Mango Planning, the plans are for a development of 10,323 sq ft of floorspace, together with a 54-space car park, new access from Harding Avenue and landscaping.

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A parade of six units configured in an L shape along the western and southern boundaries is proposed and the plans show that a Co-op convenience store is set to take the largest unit of 3,700 sq ft.

The land is designated as a local centre in the borough's local plan and applicants say that this means that a sequential assessment is not required. Local plan policies should also restrict the number of takeaways.

The plans conclude: "The proposal seeks to bring into beneficial use a vacant parcel of land and in so doing will bring investment into the local economy through job creation."

Four full time and 14 part time jobs would be created if plans are approved.

Mumble Group website

Images: Google Maps

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News: Housing progress for Harworth at Waverley

Further deals have been secured to bring new homes to the Waverley development in Rotherham.

The site is Yorkshire's largest brownfield redevelopment, with owner and developer, Harworth Group plc delivering a 740-acre mixed use development.

The firm, created out of what was UK Coal, has sold three separate parcels of engineered residential land on two of its major developments in Yorkshire that will deliver 441 new homes to the market for a total consideration of £22.2m.

At Waverley, Harworth has achieved two disposals, selling 10.72 acres of engineered land to Taylor Wimpey, for the construction of a further 175 new family homes. This is Taylor Wimpey's fourth purchase of land at Waverley, following previous land purchases in 2012, 2013 and 2017 for a total of 332 plots.

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In addition, it has sold a further 11.73 acres of engineered land to Barratt Homes, for the construction of 177 new homes that will commence in the second half of the year. Both deals bring the total amount of residential land sold at Waverley since 2012 to 110 acres across 16 separate phases that will deliver a combined total of 1,568 new homes.

Harworth said that it plans to sell further engineered land parcels over the next ten to fifteen years as it builds out the scheme which has a 3,890-home outline consent.

In a third transaction, the company has sold 7.98 acres of land at its Prince of Wales development in Pontefract to regional housebuilder Avant Homes for the delivery of 89 homes. This is Avant's third purchase at the 917-home consented scheme.

Owen Michaelson, chief executive of Harworth, said: "These are three excellent individual deals for the business that reflect two key fundamentals – the ongoing strength of the Yorkshire property market; and the ongoing popularity of our engineered land with housebuilders, with Taylor Wimpey, Barratt and Avant all being repeat customers. The overall receipt also reflects the ongoing maturity of two of our major developments, reflecting our skill as master developers to create attractive new places to live and work."

The Godwin Group has announced that it will be collaborating with Harworth through its build-to-rent brand, Core Living, and could potentially deliver up to 500 desirable homes for market rent on four Harworth owned sites located in Yorkshire and Leicestershire.

Harworth website

Images: Taylor Wimpey

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News: £50m McLaren factory under starter's orders

Construction on the new £50m facility for supercar manufacturer, McLaren is due to commence at the Rotherham site next month, with an unnamed advanced manufacturer set to join them.

Plans were approved in April for a 75,000 sq ft development on the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) in Rotherham that will enable the development and manufacture of the Monocell and Monocage carbon fibre chassis used in future McLaren models. These carbon fibre "tubs" are now in their second generation and have recently been unveiled as the key feature of McLaren's new 720S.

The centre is set to create more than 200 jobs and will comprise approximately 150 production staff and 50 manufacturing support staff.

Harworth Group plc, the brownfield regeneration and property investment specialist that owns the site has announced that McLaren has signed a conditional twenty-year lease for the McLaren Composites Technology Centre (MCTC).

To be designed and built by Harworth, The new unit is being built on Harworth's next phase of employment land known as AMPlify @ The AMP, with unit construction due to commence on site in August 2017. McLaren is expected to take occupation of the new unit in summer 2018, following practical completion.

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At the same time, McLaren and the University of Sheffield are delivering a two-year research and development programme. The first pre-production chassis, built using trial manufacturing processes in the nearby University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) with Boeing, is expected to be delivered to the McLaren Technology Centre in the second half of 2017.

The company also has an objective of producing more than 4,500 vehicles annually by the end of 2022. Motoring magazine, Autocar, is reporting that the facility will have the capacity to make up to 10,000 carbonfibre tubs each year and that Mclaren is considering producing carbonfibre for other car manufacturers.

McLaren Automotive and the McLaren Technology Group recently announced that theyare being brought together under one corporate structure to be called the McLaren Group. It came after Ron Dennis CBE reached agreement with his fellow shareholders to sell his shareholding in both companies.

The AMPlify development has the potential to deliver 465,000 sq ft of new employment space. It includes plots for units ranging from 25,000 sq ft to circa 200,000 sq ft and will build on the award-winning scheme's success by offering Design & Build opportunities aimed at high-value advanced manufacturers and their supply chains.

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Harworth has also announced that it has signed a 15-year lease with an unnamed advanced manufacturer for a new 11,044 sq ft unit at the AMP. The unit was speculatively constructed and the lease was completed within eight weeks of practical completion. Six new units totalling 52,068 sq ft were completed as part of the park's R-evolution development.

The AMP is on the larger Waverley development in Rotherham. Here, Harworth, which was formed in the restructure of what was UK Coal, has sold 8.17 acres to Taylor Wimpey, for the construction of a further 130 houses. This is Taylor Wimpey's third purchase of land at Waverley, following previous land purchases in 2013 and 2015 for a total of 192 plots.

Harworth said that it plans to complete further residential sales at Waverley in the second half of 2017, reflecting the underlying strength of Yorkshire's housing market.

Owen Michaelson, chief executive officer at Harworth Group plc, said: "This announcement continues to demonstrate the fundamental strength of our regional residential and commercial markets. We are delighted to welcome McLaren to the AMP and to be able to support them in their ongoing growth.

"The two announced lease agreements serve as further examples of how we are improving the quality of our income base as we continue to deliver NAV [net asset value] growth across the portfolio. We are maintaining development momentum at the AMP and demand for new units remains high, with the McLaren deal demonstrating how the Harworth offering has evolved to incorporate the design and build of specialist purpose built units on behalf of blue-chip occupiers.

"The sale of residential plots to Taylor Wimpey marks our ninth sale of engineered housing land on Waverley. This will add to the 650 homes that have already built and occupied on the site since 2012, reflecting good demand for our engineered brownfield land from housebuilders."

McLaren website
Harworth website

Images: McLaren / Harworth / Harris Partnership

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