Category Archives: Greenbelt

A Local Referendum for Dinnington on Greenbelt Issues?

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Dinnington residents attending the Parish Meeting on Monday April 14th will have the opportunity to vote for a Parish Poll, a local referendum to be held on whether or not Dinnington should give up large areas of its green belt for housing developments,

If at least 10 local residents ask for a poll the local authority is duty bound to call a date and give the people of Dinnington their say at the ballot box, Like all referendums, however the poll is not binding, merely an expression of opinion.

Please come and support us at the Lyric on Monday.

Rotherham Labour Party Target Dinnington Greenbelt Again!

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Rotherham Council have unveiled their latest “consultation” in responses to comments made on their local plan by a government inspector who must approve before the house building on greenbelt extravaganza can begin.

Housing and Employment Land Distribution 2013 - 2028

Some highlights:

1. No priority given to brownfield first, lots of people even greenbelt campaigners believed the Council when they said they would go brownfield first, but they have now confirmed what a lot of us always knew, there is no instrument left in planning law to do this.

Therefore developers can leave brownfield sites derelict and go straight to green field.

2. The Council intend to set the level of Community Infrastructure Levy (a charge developers must pay to contribute to local infrastructure) ridiculously low in Dinnington and North Anston. It will be cheaper for developers to build on our countryside than derelict council estates in Sheffield.

3. An extra 200 and odd houses planned for Dinnington, the majority on greenbelt with no investment in local amenities and infrastructure.

4. No new retail developments, just 16% of Rotherham’s industrial units that will be moved out here.

5. Five percent of all houses in Rotherham to be built on our green belt.

Have your say on the consultation HERE.

Rotherham Council move to raise Council Tax by 2%

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RMBC Cabinet have put forward plans to raise Council Tax by approximately 2% for the next year, raising an additional half million or so of revenue.

In other news:

1. Dinnington Town Council up in arms over (proposed) closure of Sure Start centre.

2. Anston Town Council a bit less so, Councillors saying that the centre was not well used and Anston is not a deprived area. Hmmmm!

3. Dinnington Town Council refuse to record a vote of confidence in Dinnington’s relationship with RMBC.

4. Rotherham Council told to build 3000 extra houses, Dinnington’s greenbelt once again in the cross hairs!

5. Rotherham Council refuse to transfer Birkdale Avenue playing field to local ownership, say they want to hold onto the land for commercial reason as it may be used for a housing development.

A Walk in Anston Stones to Dead Man’s Cave

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2013-12-28 12.43.13I’ve walked through Anston Stones before many times, but I don’t think I’ve ever fully appreciated the stunning variety and character of the woods, the hills, the caves and limestone crags and the railway which makes it such a great place for a walk.

Owned by Anston Parish Council and recognised by local and central government as a Local Nature Reserve and a Site of Special Scientific Interest the value of the stones are well appreciated.

Like a miniature Stanage Edge in places I’m surprised not to see climbers trying the crags out and despite the quite close proximity of the busy A57 you get a great sense of solitude. The railway and bridges adds massively to the character and I wonder should the railway ever been abandoned and dismantled what great things could be done with the track bed, a cycle way perhaps?

Dead Man’s Cave lends a spooky and macabre element to the proceedings and you can have endless fun scrambling up banks and crags on all fours trying to reach hard to see places and explore.

See our video here from the depths of Dead Man’s Cave!

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Greenlands Park

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A great place to walk the dog, play footie, golf or tennis or even bicycle hide and seek as we were doing yesterday.

Greenlands is part of my childhood memories and although it has changed a wee bit since then it’s still the great place I remember.

The bottom end of the park (the quarry area) was being considered for a new housing estate until recently, happily this plan now seems to have been shelved.

It would be great to see a new access created from the bottom end of Greenlands to the new-ish pit stop recreation area, this could also be made cycle friendly to provide a new link between Dinnington and Anston.

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Last Weekend in Pictures

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Anston Pit Top, peaceful, great view, but a little reminder too of what was once there…

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Dinnington Playing Fields hidden away behind the footy ground, would this space be better used as a park for everyone to use? It was owned by the miners until it was hoovered up like so many assets after the pit closed. Now the area is hardly used by the public.

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Rounded Saturday off by going to Rotherham to hear George Galloway speak at the Respect meeting. I’m not a member of any political party and whilst the people from Respect seemed nice they also seemed slightly naive and I wonder if they realise just what a hard sell their anti-war good old fashioned socialist message will be in this day and age.

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Plans Revealed for Birkdale Avenue Playing Field

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The developer Taylor Wimpey has revealed it’s plans to develop the Rotherham Council owned playing field at the end of Birkdale Avenue.

BirkdalePlot

To summarise they plan to build a load of houses over it and replace it with a much smaller open space a long way from where local children play currently.

This is where the plot lies:

219Plan

Having been previously told by the developer that they had no interest in the playing field I am not happy, I am also less than thrilled with Rotherham Council who seem to be willing to see what little recreational land we have left built on.

Well last week I handed in 150 evidence forms claiming the footpaths that people currently use on that land, so I hope the owners of the new houses will be OK with me walking through their back gardens and riding my bike through their dining room.

Full PDF plans are available here and here.

We are Proud to Launch our Footpaths Campaign!

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Rotherham Council are making plans to build over 240 houses on the greenbelt land behind Birkdale Avenue, Wentworth Way, Turnberry Way, Belfry Way and Moortown Avenue

219Plan

219 Close

This land has been used by local residents for walking, cycling and horse riding for decades, but none of the footpaths we use are legally recognised, therefore access to many of the footpaths could be lost if the houses are built.

We would like to see the local paths recognised legally by having them placed on the Council’s definitive map. You can help by filling in the witness statement on our leaflet if you have used any of the footpaths shown overleaf for the last 20 years or more. We will then present this to the Council as evidence that the paths should be entered onto the definitive map. The Council have a legal duty to investigate our claims.

We are distributing our leaflet locally to ask for support from the immediate community who use these paths regularly (or semi-regularly, that’s still valid!) You can ALSO DOWNLOAD IT HERE!

The slick, sophisticated marketing machine at our disposal has swung into action (me on my bike)

The paths are shown below:

LittleMap3

  1. Lakeland Drive bus stop to Swinston Hill Woods, following field boundary behind Turnberry Way, Wentworth Way and on following power lines.
  2. Swinston Hill Road to boundary of field, linking up with footpath 1.
  3. Birkdale Avenue to Swinston Hill footpath across playing fields and also diagonally across playing fields.
  4. Birkdale Avenue to field boundary passing entrance to Wentworth Way.
  5. From gate at Wentworth Way across field to link with footpaths 1 and 2.
  6. Swinston Hill Woods to Lakeland Drive across fields arriving near Fairways shop.

To enter a valid claim for these footpaths we need to prove at least 20 years usage.

If you would like to take part please download the leaflet HERE!

Rotherham Council Announce Housebuilding Sites for Dinno! The Wait is Over! (Updated)

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The consultation for the final lap is now here and we can reproduce RMBC’s plan for Dinno below:

RMBCDinno

Just a quick point to dispel a myth that keeps going around… None of these houses will be built by the Council, they are all private. RMBC would like us to think they can use existing laws to force the developer to build them 20% affordable or social, but the government is in the process of abolishing this rule. Greenbelt sites are prime locations and will almost certainly provide 4-5 bedroom “executive” homes.

First thoughts:

They appear to have dropped the idea of a massive urban extension near Lakeland Drive.

300 new houses for Throapham now, Another 500 later?

240 new houses for Lakeland Drive

What is happening to Dinnington Rec Ground?

Space for 200 or so houses reserved in Anston

New Gypsy camp for Kiveton? (See below)

RMBCKivvoGypsySite

Links:

RMBC downloads

Settlement Map for Dinno/Anston

Details for Dinno

Settlement Map for Kiveton

Details for Kivvo