A ROW broke out in Barnsley Town Hall after campaigners failed to sway planning board members over a proposed housing estate which will be built on a former school site.
Councillors were accused of ‘failing the community’ having granted permission for a 41-home development on the former Foulstone site on Nanny Marr Road, Darfield.
Partner Construction Ltd, the firm behind the proposals, were given the green light to build 33 three-bedroom and eight two-bedroom houses - 35 of which will be classed as affordable.
Although a small part of the 1.26-hectare site will be retained for future retail use, campaigners say promises have been broken after initial consultations showed grand plans to create a mini ‘village centre’ in a densely populated area.
However, the council failed to attract retailers to the scheme and the site was subsequently earmarked for housing under the council’s Local Plan, which acts as a blueprint for future growth up to 2033.
Some councillors backed the campaigners’ calls for it to be rejected, with Coun Pauline Markham saying its access was ‘diabolical’ and a ‘rethink’ should happen.
She added: “It’s been seven years now and the original plans were completely different to what it’s become. People flocked to the consultation event at Darfield Community Centre at the time and were really excited about the prospect of a shopping area.
“I feel let down, to be honest. This was a once-in-a-lifetime thing as we need to get retail into Darfield but this is not what we wanted. I can’t support this and I think we should defer a decision in order to have a rethink.”
The council’s head of planning, Joe Jenkinson, told the meeting they would be ‘on a hiding to nothing’ if it did so and members voted in favour of approval.
He added: “There is nothing to try to resist housing on the site, which has been tested. Evidence for the Local Plan didn’t demonstrate the need for a new district centre.
“What we have done is reflect the evidence that it would be helpful to have something, but you don’t need anything bigger than that.”
Planning board councillors asked that the remaining land be held specifically for a shop or, if that failed, to be used to create a new green space for the community rather than being given over for further housing in future.
Coun Doug Birkinshaw, chairman of the board, said: “The key thing is that we own this site, it is ours, and conditions can be put into place that the part identified for retail use remains.
“We’re in agreement with that as it cannot be turned into a local tip. We need to continue looking for an occupier.”
