Green light for Stocksbridge facility

DEVELOPMENT plans which form part of a £46m regeneration scheme in Stocksbridge have been backed by Sheffield City Council.

The authority’s West and North Area Planning Board approved the application submitted by Stocksbridge Regeneration for a new testing facility for the town’s steelworks.

The plans also include new car parking and the relocation of one of Tata Steel’s despatch facilities to the company’s main site.

The plans are part of the £46m mixed-use retail and office development in Stocksbridge, North Sheffield, on a former industrial site opposite the Tata Steel steelworks.

A further application for 140 houses is also due to be considered by the planning board next month.

In 2009 the main scheme was approved by Sheffield City Council and work is scheduled to start on the development site next year.

Restaurants and commercial space are planned, along with a customer car park and a landscaped fountain area.

The development is being put together through a partnership between Barnsley-based Dransfield Properties and Gallagher Developments.

The 15-acre site is made up of land now cleared by Outokumpo as well as the Tata Steel despatch facility which is being relocated.