Rotherham: Further cash set to be approved for new market and library

The new market and library complex, pictured in an artist's impression, was last estimated to cost about £30m

Rotherham Council is set to approve further money to fund a new town centre market and library as costs spiral.

The final amount has not been made public, but it was last estimated to come in at about £30m.

The scheme was paused in 2022 after a further £9.8m was sought - a move put down to inflation and materials becoming scarcer.

Councillors will be asked to approve the new cash at a cabinet meeting on Monday.

The local authority secured £8.9m from the government's Future High Streets Fund in 2020 for the project, as well as £5m from the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority.

The final cost of the project, which has been redacted from public reports, is not yet known, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Council officers had considered scaling back the project, but regeneration officers believed this would be "significantly detrimental to the quality of the scheme", a report to councillors said.

Scrapping the project was not recommended as it "would see the council not delivering a key component in the town centre regeneration plans".

"The recommended option is to deliver the scheme as approved by cabinet in December 2023, and increase the budget," the report added.