Rose Hill residents to protest controversial Bessacarr housing development before emergency planning meeting

The Rose Hill housing development planned by Miller Homes will go to the planning commitee next Friday, after delays for remodelling.

Some 121 homes are planned to be built on Rose Hill, an area which has become a green space after 30 years of rewilding.

The land is home to a variety of plants and species including endangered birds.

It was marked as available for development under Doncaster Council’s Local Plan in 2017, with the planning application lodged last year.

Concerned residents then formed the Rose Hill Residents Association (RHRA), organising several protests against the development.

Earlier this month during a full council meeting, local councillor Nick Allen asked why the application had not yet gone to the planning committee.

Doncaster Mayor Ros Jones responded: “The scheme design has been remodelled to fully meet council aspirations, including more trees and more green space. This has created a delay in bringing it to a meeting but will see a more improved and sustainable development scheme.”

The mayor also added that any money made from the sale of the land will go towards investment as listed in the council’s capital strategy.

Less than three weeks later, it has been announced that the scheme will go to an emergency planning meeting next week for councillors to decide whether it will be approved.

The meeting will be held on Friday, 31 March from 10am.

From 9.30am, the RHRA will hold an open protest outside the Doncaster Council Civic Office.

It is unclear at the present moment whether councillors will vote to approve the development.

Richard Farthing, President of the RHRA, said: “Rose Hill is council land and after telling developers for years they can build here, they’re hardly likely to change their minds now even if the plans fly in the face of everything the Council’s said about protecting biodiversity, trees, woodland, wildlife habitats and green spaces.

“The council says we urgently need more trees but planners seem set to allow Miller Homes to chop down woodland and hundreds of trees on Rose Hill. If so, they’ll be saying ok to what amounts to a massacre of healthy already-grown trees.

“Just [this week], the Free Press published a story saying Doncaster had lower than average tree cover compared with the rest of England. Is it any wonder when the council allows things like this?”

RHRA member Wendy Wright, added: “It’s shocking that having declared a climate and nature emergency and saying how urgently we must protect trees, habitat and wildlife, the Council is working with a developer to destroy a place like Rose Hill.

“The Council says that listening to communities is important to them and that people in Doncaster have told them to “encourage wildlife to thrive and stop destroying habitats”, that Bessacarr and Cantley residents have said that “green space and protecting wildlife is important” to them and that the Council should “protect green space from development” but at Rose Hill, they’re doing the opposite of all these things and not listening to local residents’ concerns.”

Other reasons for opposition to the development include increased congestion and road safety issues.

Resident Derek Brook said: “These plans will lead to more congestion on Bawtry Road and road safety issues. Construction lorries can’t get safely to the site: they’ll need to use both lanes on Bawtry Road to get into and out of Rose Hill Rise and Miller Homes have now said they’re going to tell local people not to park their cars on the road because otherwise they won’t be able to get their lorries to the site.

“Surely the fact that they know they can’t get lorries to the site safely or without massive disruption means this development shouldn’t go ahead. These plans will turn a quiet residential neighbourhood into a building site for years to come and the Council just doesn’t seem to care”.

The redesigned scheme for the development, which may resolve some of these issues, is not yet available to the public.

All three local councillors Nick Allen, Laura Bluff and Majid Khan will oppose the development during the meeting.