Clean Air Rotherham

What is Being Proposed in Rotherham

In order to comply with the Government's legal order, the Council is required to identify mitigating actions to improve air quality at locations where the legal air quality limit is exceeded, within the ‘shortest possible timescale’. The sites are:

  • Rotherham section of the Sheffield Parkway (A630)
  • Rawmarsh Hill (A633), Rawmarsh
  • Fitzwilliam Road (A630), Eastwood
  • Wortley Road (A629)

The actions proposed are:

  • Reduction of speed limit to 50 mph on the Rotherham section of the Parkway, associated with proposals to widen the Parkway
  • Improvements to the Rotherham bus fleet
  • Proposal to divert some buses from the A633 Rawmarsh Hill to Barbers Avenue with improvements to Dale Road and Barbers Avenue to support this measure
  • Proposals to improve traffic flow and reduce congestion on the A630 Fitzwilliam Road
  • Restrictions on HGVs on the northbound carriageway of the A629 Wortley Road/Upper Wortley Road, to prevent large polluting vehicles from using this as a route to access the M1.

In considering these different measures, the Council has sought to take into account the impact they might have on people and places, while also recognising that the worst pollution is in the urban centres and on commuter routes.

Rotherham Council’s Cabinet approved a decision to bring forward elements of this work during the March 2021 meeting. The schemes this applies to are:

  • Sheffield Parkway 50mph speed limit (to be delivered as part of Parkway Widening)
  • Wortley Road Weight Restriction
  • Rawmarsh Hill Bus Priority and Routing Changes

See here for more information.

These schemes are proposed to be accompanied by a number of additional measures, which aim to support businesses to improve their fleet and improve air quality, such as targeted support to upgrade vehicles. “As Rotherham and Sheffield share the plan to reduce air pollution, both councils and by the Government’s Joint Air Quality Unit need to approve further support”

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If you'd like more detail about the proposals we're consulting on, including the outcomes of our modelling, you may wish to read the outline business case documents that we have submitted to the Government and the Cabinet Report presented to Members of the Council in December 2018.

Additional information

Overview of the Clean Air Rotherham schemes

View Rotherham's Air Quality Action Plan

View the Outline Business Case Cabinet Report

View the outline business case

View the March 2021 Cabinet Report