Plan for new ‘retail parade’ next to Rossington Lidl is approved by councillors

A plan for a ‘retail parade’ adjacent to a new Doncaster supermarket has been approved which could include retail shops, a gym, a fast-food outlet, restaurants and a pub.Lidl applied permission to erect a mixture of four units with a 39-space car park off Heathfield Crescent in Rossington. But planning officers have said the plot of land lies on the Green Belt will have to be referred to the Government’s National Planning Casework Unit. Documents show the commercial use proposal on the Green Belt ‘would normally be deemed to be inappropriate’. But officers said subsequent planning permissions and the allocation of Rossington as a ‘Potential Growth Town’ within the council’s ‘Core Strategy’ are ‘strong material considerations’.The application is just one part of a huge regeneration project around the former site of Rossington Colliery which includes 1,200 homes, a 60 bed hotel, a petrol station and a fast-food restaurant with drive-thru. A Lidl store, which opened in January, is situated next to the site. Councillors voted eight to one in favour of the application. Mexborough First councillor Andy Pickering voted against.