Green light for Forge Island plans

Planning permission has been granted for the Forge Island development which is set to bring a new cinema, food outlets and hotel to Rotherham.Muse Developments, Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council’s development partner for the Forge Island scheme, submitted a hybrid application earlier this year with the council’s Planning Committee voting to approve the plans at a meeting yesterday (18 June 2020).Forge Island is located on the edge of Rotherham town centre on a peninsula formed by the River Don and the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation Canal.The development is set to create a new leisure quarter for the town centre including a cinema, restaurants, hotel, car parking, and residential units and new public realm.Phase One of the scheme will comprise a podium level accommodating the main built development. This would feature an eight-screen cinema, four restaurants, a 69-bed hotel and café. Associated car parking, public realm and a new pedestrian bridge over the River Don are also included.Phase Two would comprise two six-storey buildings featuring up to 50 apartments, with a further 70 apartments in a six-storey building planned for Phase Three.Eric Wright Civil Engineering Ltd has already started work on a multimillion-pound programme of works on Forge Island, including flood defence and enabling work on the site which includes retaining walls, terrace seating and high-quality public spaces.The hybrid application was approved in line with a planning officer’s report prepared ahead of the meeting, as previously reported by Insider.