IMMINENT plans for a huge housing development in a village which locals say is already struggling to cope must not be approved without improving its ‘bursting-at-the-seams’ road network, a councillor has warned.
Representatives from Barratt and David Wilson Homes held a consultation event with Darton residents ahead of a planning application’s submission to Barnsley Council.
The proposed development is for 266 houses on the former Darton Primary School site and adjacent land to the north and west.
Coun Steve Hunt, along with ward colleague Coun Dickie Denton, attended the consultation event and spoke to residents who voiced concerns over planned access to the site and no provision for a new link road.
The council’s local plan - a development blueprint for the next decade - allocated the land for a future housing estate but also included a caveat that approval would rely on providing a new roundabout from Station Road and a spine road linking that stretch to Woolley Colliery Road.
However, Coun Hunt said both the roundabout and new road were missing from the projected plan.
“From speaking to residents the overwhelming and biggest issue with this development is the proposed road access to the site,” he told the Chronicle.
“The land that is proposed to be developed was allocated for housing in the council’s local plan, approved in 2019.
“But that states that the development will be expected to provide a new roundabout and access from Station Road, adequate to accommodate the development of the entire site and ensure that the internal road layout provides a spine road through the site linking Station Road with Woolley Colliery Road that can take through traffic.
“The proposal that the developer consulted on last week contained neither a roundabout nor a spine road.”
According to the developer, Howden Close - currently a cul-de-sac - has been mooted as an access, as well as Station Road near Sackup Lane and Darton Hall Drive.
“The access point is where the school crossing patrol officer stands,” Coun Hunt said.
“The proposal risks the safety of children on a stretch of road which I am receiving many concerns about road safety at school times as it is.
“The location of the proposed access road will only make matters worse and flies in the face of the council’s ambitions to improved safety on Barnsley’s roads.
“The second access road planned from Howden Close is totally unsuitable.
“This is a narrow cul-de-sac which suffers from problems on occasions with the bin wagon unable to access due to parked cars near its junction with Sackup Lane.
“I have been very critical of the local plan - it does not contain within it the level of accompanying infrastructure that communities need to support development.
“This site could have been something of an exception in providing a better road network in Darton through a new roundabout and a spine road to Woolley Colliery Road which could have helped ease congestion.
“These plans contained neither of these improvements and what is proposed does not comply with the local plan and will make road safety worse.
“I know that local residents will have overwhelmingly told Barratt to go back to the drawing board and I hope that they listen.
“Residents often tell me that we don’t have the infrastructure in place for more housing in the area, that many services such as doctors and schools are extremely stretched, and that the road network is already close to breaking point during peak times.
“If the planning application is submitted in its current form, I can’t see how the board could possibly approve it.”
A statement from the developer said the estate - if approved - would deliver ‘significant benefits’ to Darton.
“Our aim is to create a desirable new community, delivering significant economic and social benefits to the area.
“The proposed development is seeking to deliver 266 new homes at two, three, four and five bedrooms in size providing new homes to meet the housing needs of local people.
“The development will be accessed from a new priority ‘T’ junction formed to the south-east of the site on Station Road.
“At the site’s entrance onto Station Road, new off-street car parking spaces will be provided to benefit visitors and parents of Darton Primary School.”
