Work starts on link road to unlock major regeneration scheme

Work has started on a new link road which paves the way for a major regeneration scheme creating thousands of jobs and homes in the north-east of Doncaster.

The DN7 Hatfield link road will create a new 2.9km road between the M18 at Junction 5 to Waggons Way next to the former Hatfield Colliery.

The start of work has been led by Doncaster Council and supported by the Sheffield City Region, Waystone Limited and Homes England.

The main contractor for the link road is Balfour Beatty.

The infrastructure will enable the Unity project to start, a private sector scheme led by Waystone. It will see 650 acres of land neighbouring Stainforth, Hatfield and Dunscroft opened up for development and linked directly to local communities.

Unity is a mixed use development set to provide new homes and jobs, a marina, leisure and open spaces, shops, schools, healthcare facilities and numerous business opportunities.

The long term project will trigger potential inward investment of £800m, create over 7,000 jobs and see 3,100 homes built.

The total cost of the project is about £16.7m, funded from £11.2m of Sheffield City Region Local Growth Funding (LGF), £3.5m from Waystone and the remainder from the council’s capital programme.

Mayor of Doncaster Ros Jones, said: “The start of the work on the Hatfield link road will crucially unlock substantial inward investment, stimulate economic growth and deliver jobs across the borough and the wider region. I am delighted we have reached this major milestone which has seen us working closely with our private and public sector partners and successfully overcome a number of challenges along the way. It is another example of the council getting things done.

“When it comes to investment, Doncaster means business. This bold plan is just another example of one of the major projects being delivered which are transforming Doncaster into a great place to live, work, invest in and visit.”

Dan Jarvis, Mayor of the Sheffield City Region, said: “The Hatfield link road is another great example of the Local Growth Fund delivering major improvements for our residents and businesses.

“I’m pleased to see that work has started on this transformative scheme, which is the single largest investment of Local Growth Funding in any one project within our region.
“It will create thousands of jobs, enable new homes to be built, and boost our economy.”