Full Results of the Rotherham Council Elections 2021

https://www.rotherham.gov.uk/elections-voting/borough-election-result-6-may-2021

Ward	Electorate	Total Ballot Papers Verified	Turnout	Councillor	Councillor	Councillor
Anston & Woodsetts	9,527	3,661	38.43%	Tim Baum-Dixon (Con)	Helen Wilson (Con)	Jane McClure (Con)
Aston & Todwick	7,057	2,430	34.43%	Joshua Bacon (Con)	Aaron Barker (Con)
Aughton & Swallownest	6,663	1,810	27.16%	Lyndsay Pitchley (Lab)	Jack Austin (Con)
Boston Castle	9,955	3,253	32.68%	Alam Saghir (Lab)	Margaret McNeely (Lab)	Taiba Yaseen (Lab)
Bramley & Ravenfield	7,160	2,354	32.88%	Gregory Reynolds (Con)	Lewis Mills (Con)
Brinsworth	7,546	2,419	32.06%	Adam Carter (Lib)	Charlotte Carter (Lib)
Dalton & Thrybergh	6,733	1,771	26.30%	Michael Sylvester (Ind)	Joanna Baker-Rogers (Lab)
Dinnington	9,263	2,758	29.77%	Charlie Wooding (Con)	John Whomerlsey (Con)	Sophie Castledine-Dack (Con)
Greasbrough	6,027	1,461	24.24%	Sarah Allen (Lab)	Robert Elliott (Roth Dem)
Hellaby & Maltby West	6,321	2,092	33.10%	Simon Ball (Con)	Jenny Andrews (Lab)
Hoober	9,662	2,411	24.95%	Denise Lelliott (Lab)	David Roche (Lab)	Emily Barley (Con)
Keppel	10,558	2,996	28.38%	Maggi Clark (Lab)	Tony Browne (Lab)	Paul Hague (Roth Dem)
Kilnhurst & Swinton East	6,291	1,876	29.82%	Victoria Cusworth (Lab)	Stuart Sansome (Lab)
Maltby East	6,668	1,717	25.75%	Adam Tinsley (Con)	Lee Hunter (Con)
Rawmarsh East	6,891	1,476	21.42%	Dave Sheppard (Lab)	Rachel Hughes (Lab)
Rawmarsh West	6,850	1,612	23.53%	Bob Bird (Lab)	Jill Thompson (Con)
Rother Vale	6,057	1,456	24.04%	Firas Miro (Lib)	Amy Brookes (Lab)
Rotherham East	10,409	2,512	24.13%	Wendy Cooksey (Lab)	Tajamal Khan (Lab)	Rukhsana Haleem (Lab)
Rotherham West	10,058	3,155	31.37%	Ian Jones (Roth Dem)	Ben Aveyard (Lab)	Eve Keenan (Lab)
Sitwell	9,886	4,041	40.88%	Simon Burnett (Con)	David Fisher (Con)	Tony Griffin (Lab)
Swinton Rockingham	6,259	1,845	29.48%	Ken Wyatt (Lab)	Gina Monk (Lab)
Thurcroft & Wickersley South	7,524	2,459	32.68%	Thomas Singleton (Con)	Zachary Collingham (Con)
Wales	7,187	2,447	34.05%	Dominic Beck (Lab)	Marnie Harvard (Lab)
Wath	6,734	1,711	25.41%	Alan Atkin (Lab)	Sheila Cowen (Lab)
Wickersley North	9,427	3,041	32.26%	Sue Ellis (Lab)	Emma Hoddinott (Lab)	Chris Read (Lab)
TOTAL	196,713	58,764	29.87%

Throapham set to (almost) double in size?

Housing developers are seeking to open a new housing development in Dinnington which would be the largest by far since Limelands.

The fields surrounding Dinnington High are all now earmarked for building, with the one next to Throapham woods coming forward first. This would be initial development in the range of 250-350 homes, depending on density and would over 10-15 years scale up to an eventual total of around 850.

How sustainable this will be depends on lots of factors, not least the local market. Housing in Dinnington is by and large pretty inexpensive and in good supply. Any housing developer entering this market won’t want to flood the area with hundreds of houses all at once, after all why drive down the price of the commodity that you’re selling.

More likely that even this initial development will be phased over 3-5 years, like the one due to begin at Wentworth Way. Homes will be built gradually and sold as they go, with new residents moving in while building work progresses on the surrounding houses.

Let us now what your opinion is, do you welcome new homes and new people to the area, or are you conscious of the increased pressure on roads or school places? Leave your comments below!

New Houses to be built at Wentworth Way

Housing developer Taylor Wimpey is bringing forward long held plans to build on fields behind Swinston Hill Road and Wentworth Way.

Do you walk your dog over the fields behind Wentworth Way and Swinnie Hill?

You might have to change your route slightly as bulldozers are set to move in and residents of Wentworth Way are set to see some changes over the next few years.

Campaigns several years ago forced Rotherham Council to abandon plans to build on the Birkdale Avenue playing fields, but the two adjacent fields are private property and a development of just over 150 homes is planned.

The access to the new development is going to be contentious for anyone living on Wentworth Way as the access for the new development goes down that very road. The end of Wentworth Way will be opened onto the fields and will provide access to construction traffic for 3-5 years. Wentworth Way will then provide access for the new 150 plus households, their deliveries and visitors.

The Taylor Wimpey web page for the development can be found here:

https://www.taylorwimpey.co.uk/proposed-developments/england/south-yorkshire/dinnington-st-johns/dinnington

The development will attract a grant of Community Infrastructure Levy to Rotherham Council, however there is no guarantee that it will be spent in Dinnington.

The new development will include 25% affordable homes, these can be seen on the web site plan, strategically placed around the development.

As with the CIL money there is no guarantee that these homes will go to local people though.

 

Crime in Dinnington up 64% in ONE YEAR!

Johnny Scumbag has never had it so good. Whether it’s riding his uninsured chavved up quad bike down Lidgett Lane, casual drunkenness on the main street whilst the rest of us are at work or a spot of burglary, business is booming for the criminals in Dinnington and Anston.

The reason? Well let’s take a moment to count the Police officers assigned to the Dinnington/Anston area. That won’t take long because the number is Zero. Response policing is provided via Maltby, which may as well be on the other side of the world when someone has a knife to your throat. Speaking as someone who has experienced the sinking feeling of calling the Police for help and gradually realising as things get worse and worse they are not coming I can confidently say things need to change.

Calls regarding minor crime are now routinely not attended, even when offenders are still present on scene.

Attempts have been made in the last year or so to re-introduce Police officers to our neighbourhoods, but currently none are assigned to Dinnington and Anston exclusively. The effect is the Police no longer have a credible link with the community and cannot gather sufficient intelligence to know where the local criminals can be found.

We need a Police Station in Dinnington, manned 24 hours a day by real Police officers, not PCSOs who cannot make arrests, and only work office hours anyway.

We need a local response to 999 calls serving the area for Anston, Dinnington, Laughton and Woodsetts.

What we DON’T need is more and more time spent by South Yorkshire Police on political correctness and publicity stunts like knife arches.

We need to see real commitment to our area in terms of Police presence to bring this shameful increase in crime under control.

The Chief Constable needs to come and visit our community and sort this problem out because from where I’m standing he isn’t Chief Constable of Jack Shit!

What the Frack!

The barbarians have appeared on the horizon in the lovely village of Woodsetts in the shape of INEOS, the company who want to frack the hell out of South Yorkshire.

Gas drillers INEOS have followed up their appalling proposal for a test well in Harthill’s countryside with a second site for test drilling, just down the road from us in Woodsetts. This will only be the beginning as they look to embark on a 5 year rape of our countryside in both locations with a drilling rig the size of Big Ben.

Our local politicians have come running to our aid yet again with local Councillors doing what they always seem to so (f**k all frankly) and our MP Kevin Bas… I mean Barron still picking the splinters out of his arse from sitting on the fence.

The Harthill well has progressed to a full planning proposal whereas the Woodsetts site is still in the very preliminary stages.

The wells are not fracking as such, at least not yet. They are applying for a 5 year visit to drill a vertical shaft about 3000 metres into the earth to recover a core sample of the local geology. They will then use the well for a series of tests to further determine the viability of wholesale gas extraction via the controversial fracking technique.

What can locals expect from the 5 year stay?

1. Lots of extra heavy traffic on the roads, up to 60 lorries per day at busy times.
2. Noise from the 24 hour operation and diesel fumes from lorries and massive on site generators.
3. The charming site of a 60m tall drilling rig, along with cranes.
4. Possible long term ecological damage from an untested and experimental technique.

It’s quite hard to see an upside at the moment, we will be doing a series of articles on how to object to the planning application when it appears. In the meantime please tell your friends and urge your elected representatives to get behind local people for once and oppose this madness.

Both villages have active campaigns (links below) and I would encourage you all to give them every support you can.

Drill or Drop anti-fracking site

Woodsetts Anti Fracking Group

Harthill Against Fracking

The Bas… Sorry I mean INEOS

INEOS leaflet

INEOS on how they will run the site in Woodsetts

 

Fracking Surveys to Begin in Anston?

Anston Parish Council have been approached by a representative of INEOS, a company involved with fracking. The company wish to get local landowners to allow access to their land to allow a 3D seismic survey of the Anston and wider area to determine if the controversial fracking technique can be used to collect gas in the village and surrounding area.

The seismic survey consists of sinking explosive charges into the ground and listening for the return echo after detonation. This allows a surveyor to determine the type and structure of the underlying rock strata.

The agenda for Monday’s APC meeting includes the following:

2) INEOS Proposed seismic surveys at the Playing Fields (Recreation Grounds belong to the Charity) and Butterfield Walk (belongs to the council) – see email from Michael Gazur dated 06.09.16 with attachments.

Money is being offered to landowners who allow access for the surveys with more to come if drilling and production begin under their land.

One local parish councillor Christine Sadler is urging local residents to contact their local councillors and express their opposition to any activity or assistance that will help fracking companies to start operations in our local area.

Frack-Off, a pressure group opposing fracking in the UK, say that seismic surveys can range from “rattling windows and noise pollution to structural damage to buildings and subsurface structures, such as water boreholes, pipes and septic tanks.”

More info as we get it!

HS2: How Close will it be to you?

Pretty Damn Close if the latest plans are to be believed! HS2 as you may know is the proposed high speed rail link to connect London and the North. It will initially go as far as Birmingham where it will split into a “Y”, one leg going to Manchester, the other to Leeds and York via South Yorkshire.

Ah-ha so does that mean we’ll be able to jump on super duper fast trains to Leeds and London? Well probably no. Previous plans had the rail link following the M1 with a station at Meadowhall.

This annoyed Sheffield as it meant HS2 wasn’t going anywhere near the city centre, it also annoyed HS2 who are far more interested in getting to Leeds and York quickly then touching anywhere in South Yorkshire with a big stick.

The choice was to stick with Meadowhall or spend an extra two billion quid going through Sheffield itself. That was never going to happen and it fact HS2 decided to save a billion by bypassing Sheffield altogether and proposing a new route to  follow the M18.

Sheffield will now be linked to HS2 by the same old rusty bit of crap tin the Victorians put down. Bless their little hearts!

This hasn’t stopped the boss of the Sheffield City Region from claiming victory, Sheffield Council also seem to have not grasped the enormity of the extent to which they have been totally and hilariously screwed.

What does this mean for our area? Well if this route is followed HS2 will enter Rother Valley South right next to Wales Bar, sweeping up through Aston right next to the M1 and passing Thurcroft on a big viaduct. I reckon you’ll see it from the pit top in North Anston next to the new windmills.

…and we won’t be able to get onto it now the Meadowhall station is no more, we can simply wave at the folks from York and Leeds as they zoom along sipping their mocka-choka-chinos or whatever it is you call coffee in Leeds these days.

A poignant illustration of how our region is continually overlooked (in this case bypassed) by the UK at large? I think so.

Anston Stones Archaeology Update

We have received these photos showing some of the latest finds from Anston Stones where Archaeologists from Durham Uni continue to toil, painstakingly scraping away history one layer at a time!

SPOILERS! If you don’t wish to know about the finds in advance of the talks on Saturday and Wednesday DON’T READ ANY FURTHER!

The left hand photo shows fragments of a pot from the 18th or 19th century, the right hand picture is a quartzite flake and a small Flint flake, both prehistoric probably middle and upper Palaeolithic, they could be tens or hundreds of thousands of years old!

The team has also found a pig jaw, a sheep jaw and some probable Roman pot.

Ceramic pot you understand, no one is accusing the Romans of smoking mari-ju-ana.

Try to make it to the talks, tomorrow at Creswell, Wednesday at Anston.

Archaeology in Anston Stones, Early Signs of Success!

According to early reports we are hearing that Archaeologists from Durham University have made their first finds near Dead Man’s Cave in Anston Stones.

A piece of flint (could it be a tool or weapon, we’ve not heard yet) and pieces of glazed pottery have been found. No details on the pottery but it looks like more than one piece of the same vessel.

More news as we get it, but in the meantime don’t forget there is a photo display in the Parish Hall and an upcoming talk as well!

Professor Mark White of Durham University will be speaking at Anston Parish Hall on Wednesday 13 July at 7pm.

Creswell Craggs will be hosting a presentation on Saturday by Professor Paul Pettit at 1.30pm.

Archaeology has Arrived in Anston Stones

The archaeologists from Durham University have arrived and begun work in Anston Stones!

This is a follow up to previous years and will be accompanied by a talk and photo display in Anston Parish Hall. This is another reminder if we needed one of the significance of the Stones and how lucky we are to have it on our door step.

The Stones and Creswell Crags are remnants from the days when Hyenas, Lions, Hippos and Rhinos roamed our lands!

Anston Parish Councillor Chris Sadler commented:

“Archaeologists from Durham University are digging in Anston Stones from Monday 4 July to Friday 15 July. They can be located by following the top path from Anston Parish Hall car park through the Stones, all visitors including groups will be very welcome.

There will be a presentation given by Professor Mark White of Durham University Wednesday 13 July in Anston Parish Hall at 7pm. Everyone welcome, please come along and join us.

Also in the Hall are information boards about Anston Stones during the ice-age and present day, everyone is welcome to come to the Parish Hall and view these, please contact the office beforehand on 01909 560922 between 9am and 12 to open the doors.

Durham University also have a team at Creswell Craggs digging outside Mother Grundy’s Cave and a presentation on Saturday by Professor Paul Pettit at 1.30pm. All welcome.

We are very lucky to have such wonderful amenity SSSI sites on our door step with the rare Magnesium Limestone 260,000 years old found in very few sites in the UK. Please make the most of this occasion of the visiting archaeologists and the opportunity to learn more about this Ice Age site and animals. See you there!”

SSSI means Site of Special Scientific Interest and is a government designation for important natural landscapes and habitat in the UK.