Waverley, Rotherham: Residents of huge new housing estate on former colliery site in Yorkshire finally get their 'town centre' with shops, gym and restaurants

The scheme, named Olive Lane, has been scaled back from an earlier version, with developers citing ‘struggles’ following Brexit, the recession and the coronavirus pandemic as reasons for “very little investment in retail floorspace.”

The scheme will provide a high street for Waverley, incorporating shops, leisure, offices, community uses, outdoor events and pop-up market stall spaces.

The proposal also includes 50 two and three bed houses and apartments along with car parking and improvements to existing public transport infrastructure.

The mixed-use scheme aims to provide a new town centre for the growing population of Waverley, at the site of the former Orgreave Colliery and Coking Works.

When complete, the site will include shops, a gym, offices, restaurants and cafes, a supermarket, a medical centre, community space, a bus hub and residential development.

The High Street will be made up of six commercial buildings that will be single, two and three storey, and suitable for uses such as a pharmacy, vet, nursery, bars and restaurants.

The plans include a 4,000 sq ft supermarket, bus station and a new community centre.

Residents had previously complained that the development was just ‘houses and more houses’ with no GP surgery or shops and a school that was too small. A bus station was originally mooted and the estate was built without a network of walking and cycling routes.

The new plans will be “a much smaller proposal”, which “will cater for the immediate needs of the surrounding community, but which will not seek spending from outside its immediate catchment to maintain it”.

The amount of office space in the plans has also been scaled back, as the ‘office market is still challenging’.