Bloors, the developers of a proposed 431 Homes adjacent to Deepcar Station have
submitted new plans. Unfortunately these cannot be supported by Don Valley Railway
because access to a new station is still compromised by revised proposals.
Don Valley Railway hope that a satisfactory arrangement with the developers found.
Our response is as follows:
I write again on behalf of Don Valley Railway. We have already placed an objection
on 21 May 2019 to the above application because:
The layout did not allow pedestrian access between a potential Deepcar Rail
Station site and Station Road, and,
Not enough land for construction of a bus turning circle adjacent to the station
site was made available, nor were alternative connecting bus facilities
proposed, to allow a service connecting the station with the Deepcar /Stocksbridge urban area.
Neither of these objections have been adequately addressed by subsequent
submissions.
For Don Valley Railway’s aims of creating a passenger rail service to Stocksbridge it
is essential that this development does not prohibit the effective development of a
station at Deepcar.
There are three possible rail options for this:
A service terminating at Deepcar,
A service via the works terminating in central Stocksbridge, and,
A service via the former Woodhead mainline route towards Penistone,
A service terminating at Deepcar Station would become the main access point for,
and need to be able to accommodate interchange to other modes of transport to
serve the entire Stocksbridge /Deepcar urban area and would require a bus terminus
facility for each half hourly rail service to achieve viability.
This would be best served via Station Lane, with bus utilising a turning circle at the
station entrance if the circuitous road layout within the site is adopted. DVR propose
utilising land allocated as a reverse turning stub plus the land of Plot 145 to construct
a bus turning area to enable a seamless bus – rail connection, similar to previous
versions of The Applicants proposals and the development should not prohibit this.
For a service terminating in Stocksbridge, Deepcar, being considered by the
Department for Transport, is widely viewed as being the Park and Ride location as additional parking in central Stocksbridge near a proposed Fox Valley station site is
problematic.
Should the line to Penistone with onward trains to Huddersfield or Manchester be re-
instated Deepcar Station site may become a main-line station for the Stocksbridge.
The Applicant refers to a ‘Rail Halt’ in an attempt to down play the importance of this
facility, and completely under-estimates the public attitude to the aspiration to bring
trains to the area.
Don Valley Railway has campaigned for 16 years to bring a railway to Stocksbridge.
Your new MP has brought this aspiration close to reality, and Sheffield City Region
are currently working hard to deliver a successful bid to open this line through the
Government’s Restoring Your Railway initiative.
Network Rail comments concur with ours and ask that enough space be allocated to
enable the station to ‘align with planning horizons’ in light of the current study work to
look at increasing the local rail network. They suggest allocating land until 2033 not
the mere three years as suggested by The Applicant.
All of this is necessary to enable the full benefits of the Government’s Towns Fund
initiative in Stocksbridge to be realised.
Beyond our specific objections we have no in principle problem with the
development. Indeed new housing close to this station site will improve the business
case for Don Valley Railway. So we hope that The Applicant can work with us and
see the benefits the railway will bring.
BUT, Stocksbridge can give up any aspiration of bringing a rail service back to the
town if this development does not move to accommodate it.
Don Valley Railway therefore maintains our objection to the proposal.
Application Details:
19/00054/FUL Erection of 431 dwellings with associated infrastructure including means of access, all-purpose bridge, drainage, open space and landscaping works (Amended Details published on the 21st of February) | Land East Of The River Don And To The South West Of Station Road Deepcar Sheffield S36 2SQ
Link:
https://planningapps.sheffield.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=PL0SSVNY0M900