Controversial link road scheme could be revived in three years

The Waverley Link Road was supposed to link a proposed new town on the former Orgreave pit, between Rotherham and Sheffield, with Retford Road at Woodhouse Mill.

However, it was announced last month that the Government has refused funding for the scheme altogether as the final part of the road would have run across playing fields at Woodhouse Mill – causing a wave of public opposition. Although most of the land is within Rotherham, the Woodhouse Mill section of the road would have been within Sheffield Council’s boundaries.

Refusing funding for the Waverley Link Road in May, Transport Minister Norman Baker said: “Given that Rotherham and Sheffield councils have been unable to come to an agreement, the department does not have sufficient confidence that the scheme can be delivered, and we therefore cannot agree to provide Department for Transport funding for it.”

Another blow to Rotherham Council’s plans came last Saturday, when Woodhouse Mill’s playing fields were officially protected under the Queen Elizabeth II Fields scheme.

The Diamond Jubilee scheme, being promoted by Prince William, aims to preserve existing playing fields and create new ones around the country.

Sheffield Council has now formally designated the site as a Queen Elizabeth II Field, in conjunction with the Fields In Trust charity.

As a result it will be protected and managed as a public recreation ground and playing field - meaning that any future link road will have to avoid crossing the fields altogether.

Sheffield Council’s cabinet member for culture, sport and leisure, Coun Isobel Bowler, said: “We’re delighted that the fields have been designated during the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and that Sheffield has taken part in this national scheme to preserve existing playing fields.”

Papers set to go before a meeting of Rotherham Council’s cabinet member for regeneration and development next Monday, July 2, state that, “due to the lack of Department for Transport funding, no further work will be undertaken on the Waverley Link Road scheme”.

The Waverley Link Road would have cost in the region of £8.57m, with around £7m coming from the Department for Transport, £857,000 from Harworth Estates – the property arm of UK Coal, which is building the new housing development on the Orgreave site – and the rest from Rotherham’s local transport plan.

Engineer Matthew Lowe’s report, which is set to be considered at next week’s meeting, says: “As the Waverley new community development progresses, there will be increasing pressure on the surrounding highway network.

“The Waverley Link Road was proposed to relieve this pressure and it may be that, in the future, the council received requests for highway improvements to relieve this.”

However, the papers go on to say that a further application for Government funding could be made after 2015, following the next Comprehensive Spending Review period.

The financial contribution from Harworth Estates will also be lost if the project does not come to fruition in the next 15 years.

Planning permission for the Waverley new town development was granted by Rotherham Council in 2010. According to UK Coal, the Waverley scheme will be carried out in “four super-phases” before being completed in 2030.

It is thought that construction work could begin as soon as this year, subject to reserved planning applications being approved. The proposals include 4,000 homes, as well as schools, restaurants and offices, on the pit site.

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