Footbridge given the go-ahead to cross rail line

PLANS FOR a footbridge linking Penny Pie Park and Pogmoor Recreation ground have been given the go ahead by Barnsley Council.

The bridge will link Penny Pie Park and Pogmoor Recreation Ground over the railway line, and create a safe crossing point for Horizon Community College pupils, and the public.

Sheffield City Region approved £1.5m of funding for the bridge in January.

The Sheffield to Huddersfield railway line between the parks will be temporarily closed while the bridge is under construction, but Barnsley Council says it will work “in accordance with Network Rail track possessions to minimise disruption”.

Coun Peter Fielding told the meeting yesterday: “It is an excellent development and it is welcomed by the community – it should have happened years ago.

“At the moment, Horizon students have to travel all the way around Pogmoor Road. Parents will be able to drop their children off on Glendale Close. It’s a very tight cul-de-sac. If you get two or three cars at once, it gets really congested. We need to address this now, and not, as the report suggests, at a later date.

“Residents lives’ will be a misery – I don’t think there’s any doubt about it.”

Residents fear the quiet housing estate could become congested with extra traffic, say there is lack of street lighting, and are worried the bridge may be used as a “meeting or loitering point”.

Planning documents state the bridge will be set away from residential properties, and would not be an “overbearing figure given its modest size”.

Bulkhead lighting has been included in the plans as a safety measure, and the documents add: “The use of the bridge would also not unreasonably increase noise and disturbance levels within the area given that it is a foot/cycle bridge.”

The plans were approved at Barnsley Council’s virtual planning meeting yesterday.