Final Thumbs Up For Waverley "New Community" Project

UK COAL’s planning proposals for a new community of almost 4,000 homes and commercial developments to create new jobs on the former Orgreave-Waverley surface mine sites have been given the full go-ahead.

Rotherham Borough Council has confirmed that the schemes they had already approved, but which had to be referred to the Secretary of State for final confirmation, have now been given the green light.

After years of careful planning, the regeneration of Waverley, the largest brownfield development site in South Yorkshire, includes outline permission for the construction of a new sustainable mixed use community complete with around 3,900 homes, public facilities, green spaces and the creation of a 9,000 strong population over the next 20 years.

Once fully approved, the first phase of the £100m development is expected to commence during 2012 and will include a primary school and a versatile mix of new homes, about a fifth of which will be affordable housing, as well as 15,300 square metres of employment space.

A separate application by UK COAL and Helical Governetz for consent to build a 64,500 square-metre Government Office Campus on the site adjacent to the existing Advanced Manufacturing Park, has also been approved.

Bronwen Peace, Rotherham’s planning manager says the plans were the largest and most complex considered by Rotherham, and that the government’s decision was 'reassuring' Councillor David Pickering, Chair of the Rotherham Planning Board told the BBC that the reclamation of the former coke works and surface mine site was almost complete, lakes created with public access around the site already available, adding: "Now we can look forward to issuing the permission and dealing with future detailed applications."