Gateway ready by October

 

Gateway2

gateway1

Penistone’s new gateway development will be ready for occupation in October, according to developers.

After a number of delays, work has now started on the commercial and office development in St Mary’s Street, the final phase of the £15m town centre regeneration scheme which included the Tesco supermarket and the new market hall

 

Plans for the latest development were approved in 2011

 

The artist’s impressions from developers Dransfield Properties Ltd show front and back of the development, which is being supported by the European Regional Development Fund. The latest phase will accomodate up to 80 jobs with commercial units from 1,200 sq ft to 2,400 sq ft and 21 office units for start up businesses

 

Woodchip plant brings 20 jobs

plevin-logo

The UK’s largest waste wood recycling centre is to be built at Hazlehead, creating 20 jobs and processing 150,000 tonnes of waste wood a year.
Plevin, a family-run company based in the Manchester area, plans a £5 million facility on the 50 acre site, formerly part of the Wavin operation at Crow Edge.
The plant will primarily manufacture recycled wood chips for a £120m renewable energy plant at Blackburn Meadows near Sheffield. Plevin will be the exclusive suppliers of fuel for the biomass-fired facility.
Jamie Plevin, managing director of Plevin, said: “The Hazlehead facility will be a fantastic development for us.
“Once completed, we will be able to offer guaranteed recycling of a large volume of high and low grade waste wood.”
Work on the site is due to be completed next spring.
As well as processing biomass fuel, Plevin manufactures a range of market-leading wood-based products, including materials for the panel board industry and animal bedding for livestock, equestrian and small animals.
Business development manager Andrew McFadzean, who has recently been recruited by Plevin, said “Hazlehead is an excellent site. No other wood recycling company has ever had a facility like it.”

Danger shells found on moors

wmrtlogo_smallThree armour piercing shells, capable of seriously injuring anyone picking them up, have been found on the moors above Langsett.
The 75mm shells, the latest in a series of similar finds, were found by a fell runner and Woodhead Mountain Rescue team and removed by bomb disposal experts.
The find came at the end of a busy week for the rescue team.
Shells and other explosives, dating back to between the wars when the moors were used as firing ranges, are often found at the end of winter as the shells are forced to the surface from the movement of the peat bogs.
Woodhead Team Leader Keith Wakeley said: “Anyone who finds a suspicious object in the Peak District should contact police immediately advising them of what they believe they have found and where they have found it. Under no circumstances should anyone go near it or touch it as the devices are known to be volatile and could cause serious injury.”
Earlier, the rescue team were called to help the Yorkshire Ambulance Service with an injured angler in the Sheffield area and a number of team members helped colleagues in Devon, for the annual 10 Tors event over Dartmoor.
The event organised annually by the Military, involves teams of teenagers moving across the moor covering distances of up to 55 miles over 34 hours. This year’s event saw 2,400 teenagers enter. The teenagers, from local schools, Scouts and Cadet Forces train all year and in all terrains to meet the challenge.
Woodhead members were called out 6 times during the event.

 

 

New route for riders and walkers

 

loopA new long distance route for horse riders, cyclists and walkers in the Peak District National Park is to open on June 3.
The “Kinder Loop” is a challenging 55 mile long circular route which uses existing lanes, bridleways and paths. Those who use the route will need to be experienced in riding and walking on rugged terrain as sections of the route follow rough paths across exposed moorland .
The route starts from the head of Ladybower Reservoir and travels through some of the UK’s most dramatic scenery , including the Cut Gate route to Langsett before joining the Trans Pennine Trail and looping back to Edale, Ladybower and Derwent Reservoirs.
Funding for the creation of the route has come from bodies including Sport England and the British Horse Society.
Cosima Towneley, a and long-time campaigner for safe equestrian access to the countryside will officially open the Loop at Rushop Hall in the High Peak. Her family has worked to promote and develop safe routes for horse riders for many years and her mother Mary Towneley played a key role in the establishing of the 205 mile Pennine Bridleway , a national trail which opened in 2012.
Wendy Neilson, chair of bridleways group Peak Horsepower commented “As traffic on our roads increases each year, it becomes more important to provide safe riding routes. We hope that the Kinder Loop will be enjoyed by walkers and cyclists as well as horse riders”
More information about the Kinder Loop and downloadable maps of each section can be found on the Peak Horsepower website 

Open Day at Hospice

hospice

Barnsley Hospice is holding an open day on Saturday May 18 to discuss dying. It is part of a week-long week to encourage people to talk openly about dying, death and bereavement.

Guests at the open day, between 10am and 3pm, include Dr Joann Fletcher, Barnsley born Egyptologist, who presented the Life and Death in the Valley of the Kings series on TV.

Diana Gibson, patient services director at the Hospice, said: “If people don’t make plans for when they die, the risk of not getting appropriate end of life care will be increased and it will be more difficult for their loved ones to cope with bereavement”.

 

Round Table wins national award

Round Table

Penistone Round Table, the local voluntary group, has won a national award in recognition of its contribution to the local community.

The group, which organises Penistone’s Gala and Mayors Parade each June, overcame strong competition to land the National Community Service Award at the annual awards ceremony for the Round Table of Great Britain and Ireland.

“It was such an honour even to have been nominated for this national award – let alone to win it,”, said Gareth Bedford, Chairman of Penistone Round Table.

“Living in such a great community, we think it’s only right that we do our bit – whether that be organising local events like the Boundary Walk or the Mayor’s Parade & Gala, or supporting local good causes by donating money raised locally. To hear that you have been recognised nationally for those activities is actually quite humbling.”

The group organises other events such as the Penistone Boundary Walk, fireworks display and Santa’s Sleigh at Christmas

 

Help for the bees in Penistone

 

 

 

new_friendsoftheearth_logoPenistone branch of Friends of the Earth has persuaded Barnsley Council to help threatened bees.

 

They have agreed a new mowing regime on parkland off Thurlstone Road in a bid to make it a wildflower meadow.

 

And they are talking to a land owner about more bee-friendly planting on another site in the area.

 

On May 19, they are organising a Sunday afternoon walk from Penistone skate park to The Huntsman pub to look at what they are doing and show off what can be done to help pollinators.

 

Organiser Rachel Gibbons said: “We will be looking for bee-friendly plants, and also places which could be improved. We will have spotter sheets for children (and adults). We will also be identifying bees and insects and checking up on a wild honeybee colony.”

 

Part of the area once contained a lot of Lady’s Smock, which is important for orange-tip butterflies, and they will be planting a few plug plants to encourage them to re-establish.

 

It starts at 2pm

 

 

 

Penistone businesses queue for new units

 

paperFive new industrial units in Penistone have been quickly let – and there is a waiting list for premises.

 

Penistone Paper and Board used a grant of around £175,000 to help pay for turning a disused warehouse into five units for light industry. The grant, organised by Enterprising Barnsley, was funded by a developer as part of planning permission for houses elsewhere in the town and is aimed at creating business starter units and employment opportunities in the area.

 

Paul Fearn, co-director Penistone Paper and Board, in Springvale, said they had used the building for storage.

 

“We were thinking about what to do with it when advisers from Enterprising Barnsley told us about the money and then helped us get it.

 

“We got an amazing response as soon as we told people the space was becoming available and hardly needed to do any marketing.”

 

The building has been converted into five 1,000 square foot units and one 3,000 square foot unit. The new businesses include a bicycle frame manufacturer, a tree surgeon, a steel stockholder and a craft paper company. On the waiting list are a brewery, car dismantler and clothing company.

 

The Enterprising Barnsley programme is designed to help high-growth businesses in the area to create much-needed jobs.

 

Andy Arnold, a business development manager with Enterprising Barnsley, said: “Part of our work is putting people in touch with each other and in touch with schemes and pots of funding that they need.

 

“It really is just about joining up the dots so that we can help businesses and they can help each other and create much-needed jobs.”

 

Paul Fearn said as well as creating space for light industry it had created another income stream for the company.

 

Penistone Paper and Board, which employs 35 people, takes unwanted or damaged cardboard and industrial-sized rolls of paper and turns them into useable board and sheets of paper for everything from fast-food containers and toothpaste tubes to writing paper for schools.

 

“There has been no growth in the market because of the recession, so diversifying into renting out space is a very useful source of income for us. And because of the demand and the waiting list we are now looking at building purpose-built units on another part of our site,” said Paul.

 

Weather warning for heavy rain

20130425-093150.jpgThe Met Office has issued a yellow warning for heavy rain that could affect South Yorkshire tomorrow.

The warning is valid from 0800 to midnight and motorists in particular are being advised to take care.

Surface water flooding is likely on stretches of the road network, and in places strong winds will lead to considerable spray.

Peak meets the Med

 

20120920-222337.jpg

 

The smells and sounds of the Mediterranean are coming to rural Yorkshire next month.

 

It is the inaugural Feast Peak Meets Mediterranean event on June 10 and 11 at WentworthCastleGardens, first of a series of transnational local food and tourism events led by the European Country Inns Network.

 

The event is not open to the general public but invited guests only.

 

East Peak Innovation Partnership, the only UK partner in the initiative, has organised a two-day event to highlight the quality of locally-sourced and locally-grown food, much of it organic.

 

Italian chefs from the Puglia region of southern Italy will be working alongside chefs Andy Gabbitas of the Wortley Arms and Master Chef of Great Britain and Richard Punshon from the Dog and Partridge Country Inn to produce Italian and English dishes and cooking styles using local produce from both areas.