Menta await decision on £300m Sheffield site

A multi-million pound regeneration scheme for north Sheffield has been thrown into doubt, unless council officials are prepared to agree to the planning proposals for a sustainable community, which would enable further development in the area.

Developer Menta is waiting on a Sheffield City Council decision, regarding its plans to create a number of projects including a £175m Snow Mountain sports facility and a 10,000sq ft (930sq m) business park on a 43-acre site which the developer acquired in 2004.

However, if councillors continue to reject an application to put 550 new houses on the site adjoining Snow Mountain called Claywheels lane, which, according to Menta, could bring £300m further investment in the area, Menta and their investors are reportedly set to pull out of the entire project.

The Snow Mountain project would be situated in the city’s upper Don Valley area and centre around a fully-themed alpine village with bars, restaurants, a hotel and enhanced outdoor activities alongside a 250m real snow indoor ski hall.

The indoor ski dome will boast different ski runs from beginner to expert level, along with snow ravines and gullies, rock outcrops, fir trees and an ice tunnel.

Other Snow Mountain attractions would include a unique hang-gliding ride, which would catapult pilots from the top of a 7m-high rock face to a point at the bottom of the slopes, a novelty ice-skating rink and tobogganing area.

Snow Mountain would also contain a gondola cableway transport link from the Sheffield Supertram and the City.

Following a council meeting on 13 June, where the proposal to build the 550 new homes was refused on two grounds, Menta director Craig Marks said: “We have now spent five years investing in and investigating the Upper Don Valley. A decision would allow us to get on with Snow Mountain, and stabilise it in the immediate term.

“I believe we have now given the council the benefit of both a planning and financial viewpoint of how this regeneration project can come forward and deliver infrastructure, jobs and houses which will all benefit the Upper Don Valley.

“It is now the council’s call as to whether they wish to back our efforts at the next committee meeting, or decline us,” Marks said.

Pending council approval, Menta intends to submit a detailed planning application later this year. The Snow Mountain proposal has already received outline consent while the overall scheme is expected to attract more than a million visitors per annum and create in excess of 600 full-time jobs. Details: www.menta.co.uk

An artist’s impression of the Snow Mountain complex