Councils at war over new Dearne eco-valley
THREE councils are locked in a very public war over a proposed new 'eco-vision' for the Dearne Valley, the Times can reveal today. While the Labour-led Barnsley and Rotherham authorities, backed by Labour MP John Healey are firmly behind the proposal, Doncaster's English Democrat Mayor Peter Davies has poured scorn on the scheme. In an astonishing, EXCLUSIVE interview with Times reporter Lee Peace, Mr Davies vowed Doncaster would NEVER hand over control of its areas.
AN INCREDIBLE public bust-up has broken out between three borough councils after talks over a scheme to transform what was Europe's pollution capital in the days of the coal mines, into an "eco-valley".
Barnsley and Rotherham authorities – in concert with Wentworth MP John Healey – are preparing a new future, in which the once-polluted Dearne Valley is rebuilt on a set of green principles.
Plans for new transport links include a new train station sited in the heart of the Dearne, a tram network, improved bus links and even a return of the old trolley buses – plus a university centre, a wind farm, housing and leisure projects, employment, plus schemes to reduce carbon emissions emanating from the thousands of homes across the area.
The wide-ranging plan also sets out to knit together the towns of Conisbrough, Mexborough, Denaby, Swinton, Wath, Brampton, Goldthorpe, Thurnscoe and Bolton-on-Dearne.
BUT, in an outspoken interview with the Times on Wednesday, new Doncaster Mayor Peter Davies poured scorn over the plans.
He said: "We are not prepared to hand over any political control of these important areas of the Doncaster borough.
"We are fast reaching the point where, unless we can see a return from our time and our investment –10,000 a year – in these talks, then we will stop participating, and spend our time and money on policies that will benefit our residents in Mexborough, Denaby and Conisbrough."
The Mayor went on: "Doncaster is always willing to talk to adjoining local authorities to see if we have matters of mutual interest and if we can provide better services and quality of life. We especially want to get better value for money from any arrangement we might enter into.
"In relation to the Dearne Valley we have been talking with Rotherham and Barnsley to see if there is anything beneficial to Doncaster residents for an agreed joint objective to access government funds.
"So far we have talked a lot but seen little evidence of any such benefits."
He made his eleventh-hour outburst as the Times went to press.
Before it, Barnsley Council leader Steve Houghton, who is heavily involved in the scheme, had said: "It needs all three councils pushing it forward, for it to work.
"The old Manvers pit site was the most polluted place in Eastern Europe. The pollution problem has been cleaned up, and now we want to move it on a stage further, with the eco-valley project.
"We want to create something special no-one else has got. We want the Dearne to have the lowest carbon footprint in the country.
"We want the Dearne to have a clear identity as an 'eco-valley' in the 21st century."
But project manager Joanne Wehrle stressed the plans are not set in stone, and the project is only at early stages. She said: "These are ideas rather than firmed-up proposals, but we are going to be looking at which ideas we can turn into proposals.
"It is basically a question of 'if the sky's the limit, then what would we like to see?'."Consultants have been engaged and they have produced a 65-page study entitled Dearne Valley Eco-Vision, after liaising with the local authorities, plus businesses and other agencies.
Among the groundbreaking ideas contained in the study are:
The building of a mainline train station at Manvers, which would have a journey time of 15 minutes to Sheffield and 35 minutes to Leeds. This would help to give thousands of workers at the cluster of call centres easier access to and from work,
The development of a tram link between Conisbrough and Wath, running at street level along Doncaster Road and Manvers Way. A further tram-train option could extend the route to Barnsley and Doncaster
An electric trolley bus link between Thurnscoe and Swinton, routed through Bolton, Goldthorpe, Highgate and Hickleton
A vast network of cycling and walking routes throughout the Dearne to encourage people to commute to work on foot or on a bike
And improvements would also be made to Mexborough and Swinton railway stations
In terms of housing, the Decent Homes charter would be re-defined and a new low carbon standard is to be set for Dearne homes. This involves reducing CO2 emissions from homes by at least 60 per cent.
It would be delivered in a 10-year programme to all homes in the Dearne Valley to improve standards of insulation and air tightness.
The cost of improvements would be shared between public funds and householders, but low or no cost loans may be made available to help home owners.
There would also be projects in every Dearne town to look at how best to use local resources to provide energy, including:
Using waste heat from the mine gas plant at Hickleton, which would be enough to heat homes in Thurnscoe
Generating bio-mass heating from local wood chip at a proposed new High School at Goldthorpe to supply new homes
Creating a wind farm north of Barnburgh to provide zero carbon electricity to new and existing homes
Producing bio-gas heat and power from organic waste collected from homes across the Dearne,
Creating a hydrogen mini-grid to supply energy to the Manvers
employment hub and
Utilising other energy sources such as using minewater for heating and cooling, and extracting hydrogen from the methane to provide energy.
There is also a proposal to create a University Centre in the Dearne, which would have an emphasis on environmental and ecological studies.
New schools would have to be built to a low-carbon specification.
Other aspects of the project include potentially enhancing our local woodland to create a Dearne Valley Forest that would cover 30 per cent of the landscape.
This will also see the seeding of new trees along boulevards, avenues, streets and lanes.
There are also plans to introduce fish passes along the River Dearne, and establish the river as a salmon fishing destination.
The whole project has been pulled together in a series of meetings over the last 18 months between the Barnsley Council leader Steve Houghton, Rotherham Council leader Roger Stone, MP John Healey and Doncaster Mayor Peter Davies, as well as other agencies.
Councillor Houghton was keen to stress that the project is still in the early stages, and would be along-term project delivered over the coming decade or so.
He said: "The Dearne Valley had an identity for many, many years as a mining hub, comprised of pit towns. People have been proud of that fact, and rightly so.
"Having a sense of identity is very important and very powerful.
"We got together and asked 'What is the future of the Dearne Valley?'
There is a lot of regeneration in the big four centres, Sheffield, Barnsley, Rotherham, and Doncaster, and we don't want to Dearne Valley to fall through the net."
He went on: "This has a chance to be a world-class project, but that will take time. We are only in the early stages and things are still being decided, and aspects of the project are still evolving and being developed. We expect this to be a long project which will take years.
"Obviously there will be a series of consultations once specific plans are ironed out, so people have a say."
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