Dance school closure fears over hotel extension

The future of a dance school which has run in Rotherham for over 40 years is in doubt after plans to extend a neighbouring hotel were approved, the woman who founded the school has warned.

The council's planning board gave the go-ahead for the extension of the Premier Inn on Bawtry Road despite 140 objections from residents and local businesses.

Janet Mitchell, who runs the Janet Mitchell School of Dancing with her daughter, had warned councillors the loss of parking and increased safety risks could force the school to close.

Despite the opposition, planning officers backed the development after reviewing an independent parking survey carried out across three peak days in March.

Under the plans, the hotel's capacity would increase from 62 to 76 bedrooms and include changes to the site's layout, car park and landscaping, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The applicant, Whitbread, Premier Inn's parent company, said the expansion would meet growing demand for accommodation in the area and contribute to the local economy through job creation and increased business travel.

A total of 144 letters of objection were submitted, with many concerned that reducing the number of on-site parking bays from 98 to 83 would push hotel guests into neighbouring parking areas or onto local streets.

Speaking at a Rotherham Council planning meeting on Thursday, Mrs Mitchell, who originally founded her dance school in 1981, said she might not be able to continue running it if people struggled to find parking.

She told councillors the school had moved into the basement of a Sainsbury's store, next to the Premier Inn site, in 1995.

"I managed to keep the business running through difficult times. I've given my life to this business," she explained.

"We may not be able to continue if people cannot find places to park or just drop and collect their children."

Mrs Mitchell said that according to the plans, the applicants wanted to "add rooms onto the side opposite our studio, reducing their available car parking spaces".

"This will encourage their customers to park in Sainsbury's spaces when the Premier Inn spaces are full," she added.

The meeting heard that the council's highways officer had initially raised concerns about the plans, but withdrew their objections after the survey concluded that displaced parking would be "limited in scale and manageable".

Jonathan Vose, a chartered town planning consultant who spoke on behalf of the applicant, told the meeting that Premier Inn had a "pressing need" for additional hotel rooms.

The extension would bring "additional tourist and business custom and spending power to the local area", he said.

"The proposed car park arrangements, which have been assessed by an extensive independent on-site survey work, are accepted by your highways officers."

In their report, planning officers stated that the car park serving neighbouring businesses would remain unaffected as it was outside the applicant's ownership.

Simon Gammons, the council's senior highways manager, said an independent traffic survey concluded there was sufficient parking on the site.

Following a discussion, the planning board voted to approve the application.

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