Council to buy up land for new ‘fast and efficient’ bus scheme

At a meeting next Wednesday, July 11, Sheffield Council is set to grant powers to make Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPOs) on 15 plots of land, to enable the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Northern Route between Sheffield and Rotherham to go ahead.

South Yorkshire’s Passenger Transport Executive (SYPTE) drew up plans for two BRT routes to link Sheffield and Rotherham after a scheme to extend Sheffield’s Supertram network failed.

The southern route did not attract Government funding and transport chiefs are currently “examining alternatives” but the northern option was approved by the Department for Transport.

Ministers pledged £19.4m towards the total £34m cost last year, while other funding will come from bodies including the transport executive, the two councils and the European Development Fund Programme.

The BRT North route, which will travel via the Don Valley and Meadowhall, aims to be a “fast, efficient and sustainable” link which will involve a new express bus service, an “all-user highway link” to bypass junction 34 of the M1 motorway, new road junctions and altered traffic signals.

The bus stops, meanwhile, will have a “high-quality waiting environment.”

At next week’s cabinet committee meeting, councillors have been advised to agree to “acquire by agreement the necessary land and access rights.”

Negotiations are already underway on many of the sites in question, which include spots on Attercliffe Common, Dunlop Street and other land in between Meadowhall and the A61 Sheffield Road in Rotherham.

It is thought that buying up the land alone, using the CPOs, will cost around £2.2m.

Coun Leigh Bramall, Sheffield Council’s cabinet member for environment and transport, said yesterday: “This is another significant step in making BRT North a reality, stimulating economic regeneration in the Lower Don Valley, improving transport and helping to address air quality.

“We are working tirelessly to boost the city region economy, to provide more jobs for local people and to bring vital investment to the Sheffield City Region economy. The BRT North scheme will provide the much needed infrastructure to stimulate this economic growth.

“The current programme would see construction start in 2014, with the service operational in autumn 2015.”