News: Bluebell Wood's Business Expo is back for 2023

Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice are once again giving businesses the opportunity to exhibit their services and network with South Yorkshire’s finest (and beyond) by hosting its Business Expo this month.

The Bluebell Wood Business Expo is held in association with the Barnsley and Rotherham Chamber of Commerce and will take place at the Holiday Inn, Rotherham on June 15.

The event is free to attend and will give local businesses the chance to meet new customers and learn lots from an exciting line up of guest speakers, including Steve Judge. Steve overcame a devastating car accident to become a two-time world champion in paratriathlon and is now an award-winning motivational speaker whose mission is to help people, inspire others and motivate many.

In addition to guest speakers and exhibitors, there will also be refreshments, entertainment from magician, Afro Magic, and our mascot, George, who will be walking around the stands.

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Bluebell Wood Business 365 partner, Troy Mallard from Mallard mortgages will be exhibiting at the expo once again.

He said: "The Bluebell Wood Business Expo was amazing last year. It gave us an opportunity to meet so many new people and network with other likeminded business owners. The vibe was great and I’m looking forward to seeing some familiar faces as well as new ones this year!"

Eleanor Hughes, Regional Fundraiser at Bluebell Wood said: "The event was a huge success last year and we’re really looking forward to doing it all again. We have a fantastic list of exhibitors and there’s still time to book your free delegate place.

"As well as making lots of new contacts, you’ll be helping us to continue supporting families at the most difficult times imaginable."

You can book your free delegate place here

Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice supports children and young adults whose lives are just too short, caring for them in their own homes and at its hospice in North Anston. Every day, it needs to raise £14,000 to keep the doors open for families across South Yorkshire, North Nottinghamshire, North Derbyshire and parts of North Lincolnshire.

Bluebell Wood website

Images: Bluebell Wood

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News: Riverside Gardens plans approved

Planning permission has been approved for a riverside park alongside new regeneration schemes in Rotherham town centre.

Plans were submitted in November to create Riverside Gardens on an area extending from the demolished Riverside Precinct, covering the old abattoir site behind Market Street, most recently used as a riverside car park now considered to be surplus to requirements, and passing the Old Market, Keppel Wharf and Westgate Chambers residential developments.

With the pedestrianisation of part of Market Street and Domine Lane, the aim is to form an entrance leading to Riverside Gardens and Forge Island from the town centre.

Rotherham Council planners have approved the plans without going to the planning board after issues where eventually overcome relating to the Canal and River Trust acceessing the locks, Yorkshire Water's requirements in the area and the council's Highways team over the closure of roads, servicing of buildings in the area and pedestrian and cycle access.

Using a mixture of soft and hard landscaping, Riverside Gardens will be a gateway to the heart of the town centre. It will offer residents a place to socialise and relax close to new amenities such as the Arc Cinema, a 69-roomed hotel, and a range of restaurants and bars on Forge Island, which is being delivered in partnership with nationwide placemaker, Muse.

It will offer residents a play area for children and a range of seating so that they can enjoy views along the river.

Following on from the success of the nearby fish pass on Masbrough weir, the scheme will also support local wildlife by providing bat boxes and a tunnelled sand martin box along the river side.

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Cabinet Member for Social Inclusion, Cllr David Sheppard, said: “Riverside Gardens will transform an underused site to fantastic public space which will allow residents to connect with the river and nature. It will be a great addition to the green spaces in the town centre, providing nearby residents with a space where they can meet and feel the benefits of nature. I am glad to see that the riverside, home to some of our favourite wildlife, will be easily accessed and enjoyed by all members of our communities.”

The scheme will be funded by the Future High Streets Fund following on from the Council’s successful bid for a total of £12.6m for numerous public realm schemes in the town centre.

Riverside Gardens will complement the wider Town Centre Regeneration Masterplan to bring major investment into the heart of Rotherham’s cultural and leisure quarter, and town centre housing.

Whilst the proposals indicate that Muse is unlikely to continue with future plans for 50 riverside residential units on the abattoir site, regeneration plans in the area include mixed use plans for the vacant bank site and burnt out buildings sites on Corporation Street, as well as the potential for a new theatre where the council has acquired the former Wilko store and vacant bingo hall.

Rotherham Council’s Assistant Director of Planning, Regeneration and Transport, Simon Moss, said: “More and more people are choosing to move into the town centre, thanks to the fantastic range of housing available at the nearby Westgate Chambers, Milford Rise, Westgate Riverside and Wellgate Place. With increasing numbers of people coming into the town centre, it makes business more viable and we are already starting to see new and independent businesses investing in Rotherham.”

The council's contractors, Tetra Tech (formerly WYG), are leading on the scheme.

Andrew Clarke, Head of Urban Design, Tetra Tech, said: "We have developed a strong understanding of the Council’s aspirations and working in partnership, we are making excellent progress towards delivering transformational change. A key step has been securing investment and funding, from various sources, across a broad portfolio of projects. This will help in developing Rotherham Town Centre into a thriving place for everyone, especially for younger age groups."

Tetra Tech website
Rotherham town centre website

Images: RMBC / Tetra Tech

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News: Work on M1 through Rotherham to last until winter 2024

Work to create new places to stop in an emergency on the M1 in South Yorkshire gets under way next week.

National Highways is more than doubling the number of emergency areas on the M1 between junction 32 at Thurcroft and junction 35A at Stocksbridge, with 12 new emergency areas being added to the existing eight.

Starting on June 5 and expected to be complete by winter 2024, the left-hand lane will be closed throughout construction to allow engineers to carry out the upgrade safely.

Lanes two, three and four will remain open with a 50mph speed limit in place. 

The upgrade is part of National Highways' commitment to build more than 150 new emergency areas between 2020 – 2025.

The M1 smart motorway became operational in the region and open to traffic in 2017 with the section designated as Britain's first ever Air Quality "Speed Limit" based motorway.

Highways England (now National Highways) completed a £106m scheme on a ten mile stretch of the M1 between junctions 32 (south of Sheffield and Rotherham) and 35a (north of Sheffield and Rotherham), and a 20 mile stretch of the M1 between junction 28 (South Normanton) and 31 (Aston) in a project costing £205m.

The projects include converting the hard shoulder to an extra traffic lane in both directions and mandatory speed limits set to 60mph.

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In April, the Department for Transport announced that it had removed new smart motorways from government road-building plans "in recognition of lack of public confidence and cost pressures." The government and National Highways also said that it would continue to invest £900m in further safety improvements on existing smart motorways.

At the time, Rotherham MP Sarah Champion said: "While I am pleased that new smart motorways will not be built, this does nothing to address the serious concerns about existing roads, including the M1 in Rotherham.

"Removing the hard shoulder greatly increases risks to motorists. Technology that is supposed to keep us safe is ineffective and unreliable.

"The Government should commit immediately to restoring the hard shoulder across the motorway network and I will continue to fight until they do."

National Highways Project Sponsor Felicity Clayton said: “The safety of people travelling on England’s motorways and major A-roads is National Highways’ highest priority. We have listened to drivers' concerns about being able to find a safe place to stop in an emergency on motorways which don’t have a permanent hard shoulder and have been developing a programme to roll out even more emergency areas on all lane running smart motorways, in operation and construction.  

“This investment in extra emergency areas will help increase road users’ confidence. We have also put stopped vehicle detection technology in place on all operational all lane running motorways, added more signs so drivers will almost always be able to see a sign informing them of the distance to the next place to stop in an emergency, and included advice about smart motorways online and in an updated Highway Code, to help road users feel safe and be safer on our roads.”

Images: National Highways

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News: Another shoe retailer trying Parkgate for size

A second leading shoe retailer is looking to open at Parkgate Shopping, making it a pair in recent months.

Rothbiz revealed earlier this month that Deichmann, Europe’s largest shoe retailer, had outlined plans to take on the former Bensons for Beds unit at Parkgate Shopping.

Now rival retailer, Shoe Zone, has also begun recruiting for a new store opening based in Rotherham as it looks to expand in out-of-town retail locations.

Shoe Zone offers low price and high quality footwear for the whole family. During an average year it sells 14.5 million pairs of shoes per annum at an average retail price of £13. Operating from 340 stores across the UK, retail park locations include its core shoezone product range as well as additional brands such as Skechers, Hush Puppies and Kickers.

Positions available include store manager, assistant manager, supervisor and sales assistant and the postcode for the store is listed as Parkgate Shopping.

With recent expansions for Poundland, who have taken the large former Marks & Spencer unit, and plans in the pipeline for Sports Direct and USC to join a new gym in the former Millets outlet, this would leave three empty units on the park.

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The move comes after Shoe Zone closed its Rotherham town centre store on Effingham Street in 2022.

In its recent financial results, Shoe Zone bosses said that it would transform its property portfolio with relocations/new stores being partially funded by landlords through rent free periods of typically 12 months.

For the year ended October 2022, it had 45 Big Box, 44 Hybrid and 271 Original stores, adding: "This year we expect to relocate or open a further 35 stores and continue to close a number of older stores, and we will refit a minimum of 15 stores to our new formats.

"We have seen over the last two years a reduction in store numbers as we have exited unprofitable locations. We will continue to rollout our successful Big Box and Hybrid formats by targeting key towns for conversion or relocation. Our ultimate goal is a doubling of Big Box locations to approximately 100 and an increase in Hybrid stores from 44 to approximately 150. Overall, we anticipate trading from a similar sales square footage, albeit from a reduced number of locations."

Shoe Zone website
Parkgate Shopping website

Images: Staunton Whiteman

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News: Rotherham hotel on the market

A well-situated Rotherham hotel has been put up for sale with a £2m price tag.

Graham + Sibbald, one of the UK’s leading property consultancy services, is listing The Consort Hotel, Thurcroft as being available to buy.

The 28 room hotel was built on the site of the former Kingsforth Garage in the 1980's. The Brampton Road location is close to the M1 and M18.

Sale documents show that the freehold of the 25,178 sq ft property is available for offers over £2m. For that new owners would get 28 ensuite rooms, conference and banqueting facilities with a 350 capacity, and an 80 space car park.

The sale brochure says that the building was acquired by clients in 2015 and the business is currently run by a third party operator by way of a management agreement. The hotel continues to trade.

In 2015, The Best Western Consort Hotel was acquired for an undisclosed sum by James Edward Hotels Ltd, operated by its subsidiary Company Montgomery Hotels Ltd. The hotel was previously put up for sale in January 2012 with an asking price of £1.3m. It was purchased later in the year by the hotels division of investment company, West Register Property, from the Peat family who had owned the hotel since 1997.

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Agents believe that the property/business is likely to be of interest to a wide range of buyers including individual regional and multiple operators and investors but say that redevelopment of the 1.1 acre site is not out of the question.

The brochure states: "Furthermore it is conceivable that the substantial freehold property, which is situated on a large plot, could also be of interest to property speculators and developers for an alternative use, subject to obtaining planning permission and any other necessary consents."

The site would have been affected by plans for Phase 2b of HS2 through Rotherham to Leeds, which is now unlikely to go ahead.

At Thurcroft, safeguarding areas were extended as further road realignments were proposed. Morthen Road would have been realigned to cross above the new railway and motorway to maintain access between Thurcroft and Wickersley. On farmland adjacent to the Nine Trees Trading Estate, a new roundabout and realigned road would link to Brampton Road close to the hotel.

HS2 maps showed the hotel left out of the "safeguarding area" whilst land all around it for the new roads was included.

Consort Hotel website

Images: Graham + Sibbald

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