Please sign up for the new Save Our Green Belt – Dinnington and Anston Action Group E-newsletter, to keep you up to date. Building on Green Belt land affects us all please help to keep it to an absolute minimum. To sign up please click image below:
Rotherham Politics
Robust scrutiny of all things political around Rotherham and beyond. Speaking truth to power since 2008
Rotherham Politics 
It’s my understanding that Cllr Ian St John attended the Planning Committee at Rotherham to support the application from the Brethren to build their school in the Green Belt, but it was turned down by the committee. Seems to me that Anston electorate cannot depend on their representatives to protect their green belt – that makes three Borough Cllrs in Anston to support green belt building.
LikeLike
Only Simon Tweed in Dinnington has done anything to help, the other Dinnington Borough Councillors couldn’t give a monkeys.
LikeLike
I was at the Anston Parish meeting, where Ian St John was giving his full backing to the Brethren building on the greenfield site. Ian St John doesn’t even live in the Parish of Anston and I don’t think he is one of the best people to represent us. I believe that any councilor on the Parish council should be there to represent the people of Anston, above RMBC and Rotherham Labour. I was absolutely disgusted that so many councilors abstained and it was passed by 4 to 2. At one bit RMBC wanted to increase the population of Anston from 10K to 20K, they have since dropped this by 50%. I say no more houses on the green belt what so ever and I would like to see Anston provided with facilities that we actually pay for, but have to travel to Dinnington to use. I would like to see the Plaxtons site developed into a town centre for Anston and a train service opened up to Sheffield. I also think it is time to provide a High school in Anston, as we have four feeder schools, while Dinnington only has one, St Josephs use the Catholic school in Sheffield. The Upper school at Dinnington has asbestos issues I understand, so it would be a good time to split the school in half, as was done with the health practice. P.S. I have offered to stand against Kevin Barron for UKIP if necessary.
LikeLike
Only 30% of Rotherham is urban, that’s 70% of space that we can build on. It’s groups like these what prevent us from expanding. People will complain about a shortage of social housing but want to stop us from growing. It’s going to get built on eventually; let’s do it now.
LikeLike
I am sorry but Anston and Dinnington are not in Rotherham. Rotherham stops well away from us at Wickersley. If you ask most people where they are from they would say Sheffield, but it doesn’t mean we want our rural district building all over. If anything I would like to see us go back to a rural district, the days before RMBC took us over.
LikeLike
My understanding was that both Anston and Dinnington were in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham (with residents paying council tax to RMBC), whilst having Sheffield postal addresses and post codes, along with Worksop telephone codes.
They would therefore contribute to the 70% rural / 30% urban split of Rotherham.
I would hate for our rural areas to get built over. That 70% has not been built on, does not mean that that 70% could and should be built on.
LikeLike
Not part of the urban sprawl, but in the borough. Anston and Dinnington are linked to Rotherham through their proximity and history (coal mining/industry). We are quite a large and densely populated area, hence why we’re a met. borough. With the population projected to increase to 290,000 in 10-15 years and social housing already short, we’re going to have to build somewhere – I do support this cause to an extent though. Brownfield should come first, and there’s definitely plenty of it in the borough.
LikeLike
S Thornton
I was at the “Brethern” Planning Committee, and can confirm that Cllr St John was there. He was sat in the middle of a group of four persons, Two representatives of “the Brethern” to his left and a another person who spoke in favour of the application from the Thornberry Animal Sanctury, to his right. After stating his CV, that he was an ex UBC Cllr and an ex RMBC Cllr and a Member of Anston Parish Council,(again) he went on to fully support the application. It was not only a suprise to me that he was there speaking up fro the Bethern, but also a big suprise to other Anston Parish Councillors.
I can also confirm, that at Public Meetings, both Cllr Judy Dalton and Cllr Jo Burton have made it quite clear that they approve of the building on Green Belt land around Anston. At the last Anston Parish Council Meeting, A question was asked of our three RMBC Cllrs if they approved of the extra 200 houses that have been allocated for the Anston/Dinnington area, guess what?, both Labour Cllrs Dalton and Burton would not answer the question. Further they made no representations at all with regard to protecting OUR Green Belt. But there again neither of them live in Anston.
Our third RMBC Cllr Clive Jepson (Independent) was the only Cllr who answered the question by stating he was against building in the Green Belt. Clive also spoke up at the Planning Meeting to oppose the application for the School and Church on Green Belt Land.
We also have a fourth RMBC Cllr on the Parish Council, Cllr Beck, who could not answer because he does not represent Anston (he is a Wales RMBC Cllr), yet he lives in Anston, Represents Labour on the Parish Council, and was active at the Last Planning Consultation encouraging people to support the Building on Green Belt.
So the moral of the story is this, dont trust Labour Cllrs on Anston Parish Council, Dont trust Labour RMBC Cllrs who “Represent” Anston residents, vote Independent next year when Cllr Burtons seat is up for Election.
There may well be more on this subject to come.
LikeLike
Stuart I have every respect for the Independents who voted against and have their backs against the wall at the moment. I hope that the remaining seats that become available on the council are filled by Anston people who fight first for the community and are Independents. However I wouldn’t be disappointed if people standing under the UKIP banner represented us, as long as their first priority is to the local area.
LikeLike
I first got involved in this early in 2011 when two private residents in Anston organised a petition objecting to any building on land between Lakeland Drive and the Butterfly Farm. After contacting Natural England they who carried out studies in the area some evidence of a bat population in the wooded area behind the Butterfly Farm was found. Although the petition generated over 2000 signatures and was handed in person to a ‘representative’ of RMBC nothing further was ever heard or acknowledged.
What gives RMBC the rights to claim the monopoly on Truth and Wisdom?
LikeLike
I am intrigued as to why Dinnington and Anston Action Group want to climb into bed with an avowed left wing organisation? Not all members of DaAAG hold left wing or any strong political views and I would have thought DaAAG would want to remain as and be seen as a non political campaigning group. Otherwise I fear political opportunists and political opponents will end up obliterating the Action Group’s real aims.
LikeLike
Colin. I am told by Dinnington and Anston action group that they are a totally independent organisation when I mentioned my allegiances to UKIP. One of their members was asked to leave the room after saying something to Ian St John, I think they were frustrated with him orchestrating the parish council. However I would remind them to be very wary of Labour and RMBC. I would personally prefer RMBC to be broken up into smaller areas, as Anston has no real connection with Rotherham, it is a rural district in its own right.
LikeLike
Then I would strongly urge DaAAG to deny any and all involvement with 38 Degrees.
My own bitter experience with them goes back 2 years when I complained to them about their left wing bias on a particular campaign. They did not have the decency or courtesy to acknowledge or answer my email.
If DaAAG are unaware of 38 Degrees involving themselves with this campaign then my point about political opportunism is answered.
LikeLike
Colin I have just signed a petition on their web site and it was 38 degrees. It maybe better for them to raise a e petition on 10 downing st and go direct to the government. I have just raised one to block hs2 and focus on the existing network. Cheers Tim
LikeLike
S Thornton
I can confirm that a Member of Save our Green Belt was “evicted” from the Anston Parish Council Meeting. An arguement ensued between Cllr St John and this person, I wrote a letter of complaint to the Parish Council regarding Cllr St John and his behavior, guess what, nothing happened. Whilst the member of the public was sent out, Cllr Beck, the Chairman did nothing to stop the arguement and took no action what so ever against Cllr St John, despite being asked to do so by another Cllr. Cllr Beck will protect his “sidekick” no matter what the cost. For someone who sits on the standards Committee this is probably not a wise move.
Regarding UKIP, there are 900 plus Tory voters in Anston screeming out for representation, its time UKIP got its act together and challanged the Labour Party on the Parish Council. And just to be fair to all, Labour candidates should also stand, as long as the are open and honest and put the people of Anston first.
The challange is out there.
LikeLike
If you read my previous post on the subject of UKIP standing for Anston PC you will understand the mountain I had to climb.
LikeLike
I think you would have a much better chance now and I am sure that you could get the support of others, especially delivering flyers etc. That is how Rotherham Labour work.
LikeLike
This is from Anston PC website.
In order to make things happen, the Community Plan Steering Group are coordinating
the implementation of the action plan. This is not to say that the Steering Group will implement every action point but rather it will act as a focal point for people or groups within the community who are better placed to take up an issue on behalf of everyone in
Anston.
The Steering Group, made up of representatives of groups, organisations and the people from Anston, will be constantly evolving to ensure that as new priorities or
concerns are raised, they are included in the Anston Parish Community Plan.
Regular feedback to any development is essential to keep the community involved, highlight issues for the local authority regeneration agenda, inform the Parish Council of issues of concern and issues of good practice, and develop possible project development and to celebrate success. The issues raised in Anston are similar to those of other parishes and consequently advice, ideas and information can be exchanged (there is no need to re-invent the wheel). The important thing is to celebrate success.
Section 4 Implementing the Anston Parish Plan
Click to access AnstonCommPlan.pdf
—————————————————————————————————–
This contradicts most of the previous posts does it not?
LikeLike
I was at the Anston Parish council meeting where the case for the building on green belt was discussed it came out; although the chairman Beck attempted to stop it, that the Brethren had contacted all the Anston councillors. It also transpired that the two most outspoken defenders of the Brethren, St John and Ireland had both been on visits to the Brethrens school; this is unusual as they do not allow mixing with the rest of us. So I was not surprised by Sinjin speaking up for them. However what is even more interesting is that St John was obviously speaking as a Anston Parish councillor, the council policy is to oppose the planning application so will the Parish council be censuring St John?
Dave Smith
LikeLike
Hi Dave.
If St.John spoke in defiance of Anston PC policy can I ask why this conflict of interest was not raised by anyone? You raise a very good and interesting question ie: on whose behalf was St.John speaking? He is a Parish and a Borough Councillor therefore he should either have declined to speak or stated his position and inform us just what he believes in (Apart from self-preservation)
LikeLike
Colin Tawn there were other Anston Councillors there I wonder why they did not say anything? Sinjin is an ex borough councillor.
Dave Smith
LikeLike
Colin the Anston action plan looks very well written and informative. But it misses two major points. Anston has 4 feeder schools, but doesn’t have a comprehensive school. The upper school at Dinnington is crumbling, so it would be a fantastic time to knock down and relocate half of the school in Anston, which would reduce traffic and make Anston more independent. The second point is that Anston which is now bigger than Dinnington deserves a town centre we can all be proud of, the Plaxtons site could be turned into such a venue, the rest of Plaxtons could be moved onto the industrial estate freeing up more land. It seems barmy that 10K plus of people have to get in their car and drive to Dinnington to do their shopping, this would relieve pressure on the roads. Planning is more than building houses, it is creating a sustainable community. I have already raised this issue with the Parish council, but they seem to have very little vision. cheers Tim
LikeLike
Hmmmm…………………………….
The Plaxton site is not owned by the council so unless you believe in compulsory purchase the idea of a shopping centre is a non starter plus it is not big enough. I do not think suitable entrance and exit roads could be constructed because there is heavy traffic on the A57 most of the day, It is the arterial route to and from the M1 and Ryton Road is not suitable, particularly as the junction with the A57 is controlled by traffic lights.
I agree Anston needs a shopping centre but where could it be built?
LikeLike
Colin. I would actually put a roundabout at the Anston traffic lights and then access could be made into the Plaxtons site, it would slow the traffic down, because cars fly down the hill and it would make it easier to cross the A57. We shouldn’t really be having this argument, because when all the additional houses were provided in Anston in the 60’s and 70’s, provision should have been made for a central shopping area, the old Kiveton and rural district should take as much blame for this as RMBC. However there used to be lots more shops along the main road, which have gradually been turned into houses. At the bottom of the baulk there used to be two co-ops.
LikeLike
Has RMBC shown or committed any sums of money to support this building scheme? The reason I ask is because 3 years ago Lakeland Drive,from Woodsetts Road to Ullswater Close was resurfaced.The rest of Lakeland Drive down to Swinston Hill Road was left unrepaired and is in a very bad state. We were told that there was not enough money to resurface the whole road.
(Which ignores the fact that at that time RMBC had received a total of £28 million from central government for road repairs) What have they done with our money?
Can RMBC ever be trusted to oversee large scale housebuilding projects?
Let’s examine RMBC’s financial acumen:
—————————————————————————————————————————
Our aim is to maximise the collection of Council Tax within the financial year it became due and we have two targets in this area.
The first area is to collect 97% of Council Tax within the financial year.
We currently have collected the following % of Council Tax debt for the current financial year:
This time last year ..Our current performance (01/09/2012)
46.49% 46.35%
See; http://www.rotherham.gov.uk/info/200028/council_tax/2206/revenues_and_benefits_service_standard-debt_recovery/1
Not worthy of a B+ for effort. 0.14% less Council Tax collected in the first half 2012.
Why only 97%? It seems to be a case of ‘Near enough is good enough’.
LikeLike
Those figures are out of date (as at 01 September 2012).
This page links to slightly more recent data:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-local-government-finance
… but it doesn’t appear to give me enough data to create the equivalent of the figures that RMBC published. (I’ll see if I can find more data when I get time).
In any case:
1. I would not have thought that 0.14% is statistically significant.
2. In the two other areas of debt recovery featured on that page, RMBC were in 2012/2013 exceeding its performance of the previous year.
3. The phrase they use is ” to collect 97% of Council Tax within the financial year”, some of it will come in after the end of the financial year. (E.g in 2011/12 RMBC collected £1,713,000 that had been due from previous years and even £639,000 that was not due until 2012/13 ).
But in any case, I would have thought that bankruptcies, night-flits etc might be among reasons why Councils may not expect to receive all monies due. (… it is only too easy to find that the cost of chasing a debt becomes greater than the value of the debt.)
LikeLike
Street pride told me that RMBC social projects come before the roads. I pay £140 a year road tax and 60% fuel duty on every gallon and feel the government is thieving off road user, as they are the worst roads I have driven on in 30 years.
LikeLike
I’m not sure I know what “social projects” means – can you clarify?
I’m not sure that RMBC is responsible for the non-hypothecation of road tax and fuel duty; it ‘s more of a HM Treasury issue. … and the responsibility of road maintainance is divided between the local council and national government – depending on the nature of the road.
I’m not sure if you are saying that it’s S. Yorkshire roads or maybe UK roads that are the “worst roads I have driven on in 30 years” – can you clarify?
____________________
As it happens the most badly maintained roads I have been on in the last 30 years were:-
… for UK council maintained roads: almost any minor road in Thames Ditton, Surrey.
… and for national government maintained roads: the “highway” that runs from Moyale on the Ethiopian border south to Nairobi in Kenya. = 3 day 4-wheel drive. (yet on the Ethiopian side – the road also goes north to Addis Ababa, it’s a pretty good road – you can do it easily in 1 day in any reasonably serviceable car.).
LikeLike
Regular reader. I am not willing to discuss matters with people who post anonymously.
LikeLike
A Regular Reader is not posting anonymously, their identity is known to Rothpol. It is an established part of blogger etiquette, what is said is more important than who said it!
LikeLike
Rothpol. If an individual wishes to swap opinions with me, then I want to know their identity, otherwise I have no intention of communicating with them. That their identity is known to you, makes little difference to me. I believe in transparency.
LikeLike
Thanks!
Let’s leave it there.
LikeLike
Pingback: Dinnington Town Council – Rebels | Rotherham Politics