Latest news with #BarnsleyCouncil
BBC News
7 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Barnsley Council scraps £31 charge for replacement bins
Barnsley Council has approved the abolition of a £31 charge for replacement recycling move is part of a wider £2.3m investment into modernising waste and recycling services across the decision was made at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday and means that residents will be able to request new or replacement bins free of charge, in a bid to remove financial barriers to council will allocate £500,000 in capital funding to support the initiative, which is expected to benefit up to 20,000 households during the forthcoming financial year. The policy change is also expected to reduce complaints related to waste bins and increase household recycling rates across Barnsley, according to the Local Democracy Reporting addition to the bin replacement scheme, the council's cabinet also approved £1.8 million in revenue funding to continue its waste safety and quality programme, first introduced in 2024. Planned improvements include investment in in-cab vehicle technology, enhanced crew training, and additional seasonal staffing to manage high-demand periods. These measures aim to reduce missed collections and improve service resilience, especially during winter the 2024/25 winter period, more than 100,000 collections were missed due to severe snow and ice. 'Inconvenience' Councillor Kevin Osborne, cabinet support member for environment and highways, said: "The service wholeheartedly acknowledges that the disruption to collections and inconvenience to residents and members throughout the year has been significant and does fall short of the quality of service that we endeavour to deliver."He added: "The challenge now is how to maintain our service levels and safety standards."Osborne said that almost twice as many people lost their lives in the waste industry, when compared to the construction added: "Our programme is there to ensure that every member of staff goes home to their families at the end of every day, and that the public are kept safe around the collection crews as they work."Of course, as with any large-scale change programme with new working practices, there is bound to be an impact on productivity. "That is no less the case with this programme. Our frontline management are working with collection crews to address any issues that do arise and ensure that the safety-and-quality programme is fully embedded." Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North
BBC News
23-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
'All-out' council elections in Barnsley get go-ahead
Every seat on Barnsley Council will be up for grabs on the same day for the first time in the authority's 50-year history after councillors approved the means that instead of holding elections in four out of every five years, "all-out" elections will now be held in Barnsley once every four years, with all councillors elected at the same motion to change the way elections were run, which was proposed by Labour, was passed with a vote of 47 in favour and 12 against, and follows a public consultation earlier this year where 87% of respondents supported the move. Council leader Sir Steve Houghton CBE said the decision was "significant" for the authority. Labour councillors argued the move would save the authority about £1.2m over the next seven years by reducing election costs and provide a more stable political environment for long-term the proposal faced opposition from the Barnsley Liberal Democrats, who voted against the motion and called for a referendum to allow residents to decide on the to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the Liberal Democrat group raised concerns that reducing the frequency of elections could weaken democratic accountability and make residents feel more detached from the council. Councillor Hannah Kitching, leader of the Lib Dems on Barnsley Council, told a full council meeting on Thursday: "Democracy might be expensive, but do we put a price on allowing people to have their say?"I believe the best way to help people understand and get involved with local government, which can be quite opaque and confusing, is by regular voting in thirds."I don't believe that people should have to wait four years to hold their council to account over decisions they don't like."Kitching added that elections every four years could discourage young people to stand for council."When an enthusiastic young person comes to me and says, I want to stand for the council, I don't want to tell that young person they have to wait three and a half years."However, Houghton said that despite taking him out of his "comfort zone", he supported the proposal for the long-term stability for Barnsley residents."We've come to it for two principal reasons. The government has said it wishes to create stability across the local government sector. It aims to do that significantly through local government reorganisation," he said."We may be vulnerable at some point in the future, so we cannot be complacent."I am happy to come forward with what I believe to be in the best interests, not just of the council, but the people of Barnsley for the longer term."The council is now expected to notify the Local Government Boundary Commission of the change, with the first whole council election scheduled for 7 May next year. Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North
BBC News
23-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Teaching support for Barnsley SEND pupils gets £600k boost
An extra £600,000 a year is to be spent by a council on employing more staff to work with pupils who have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with visual and hearing to a report to Barnsley Council's cabinet, a hearing support team of three specialist teachers and one support worker currently helped a total of 222 the vision support team consisted of three teachers and one support worker helping 137 children, including 23 who were report said the new funding would pay for more specialist staff for those children, and would also pay for extra staff to support SEND children at risk of exclusion from school. Specialist teachers and support workers already help children in mainstream schools, but there has been an increase in SEND pupils and some have complex report stated there had been a "steady growth" in the number of children requiring British Sign Language, and those children had "the highest level of complexity"."There may not be a high number of children with these needs, but they do require highly specialist support," it said."If support was not made available locally, more children may be required to attend specialist provision out of the borough." 'Additional curriculum' According to the report to go before Barnsley Council's cabinet later this month: "All these children require specialist support.""Children with high needs who are in a mainstream setting require access to an additional curriculum, for example touch typing, visual stimulation and Braille," it said."For children who require support to enhance their independence, including independent travel and living skills, the caseload is currently 91 children, with one specialist and no support workers."Fifteen of those children are cane or pre-cane users, and 16 require the highest packages of support."The report said that four new hearing and vision support workers would be employed by the authority at an annual cost of £173, addition to that, £426,322 would be spent on employing 11 SEND teachers and support workers would help SEND children who were at risk of being excluded from school, the report two specialist teachers had a caseload of more than 200 council said keeping children in mainstream schools benefited them, but it was also cheaper as the average cost of a special school place was £70, Council's cabinet is expected to discuss the report's findings at a meeting on 28 May. Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North
BBC News
17-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Hoyland: Bogus asylum seeker letter refuted by Barnsley Council
A bogus letter claiming 60 asylum seekers were soon to be housed in Hoyland has been refuted by Barnsley Council. The false information was recently put through local residents' letterboxes and shared online in two local Facebook community groups. It stated an agreement had been made for asylum seekers to move into apartments at Hoyland Town Hall within the next few weeks. However, after liaising with the Home Office, the local authority confirmed the letter and social media posts were "completely untrue". In a statement, Barnsley Council said: "A letter sharing false information about asylum seeker accommodation has been posted through letterboxes in Hoyland and shared by Facebook accounts. "We can confirm that the information in both the letter and social media posts is completely untrue." Over 24 hours, the Facebook posts attracted hundreds of comments from local community pages later removed the posts with an acknowledgement the information was published in good faith but was incorrect. A council spokesperson said it was "totally irresponsible" for material to be posted and shared without fact-checking."It's crucial that community pages take the time to verify information before sharing it on social media to a large audience - not everything you read is true, and it's sometimes created to cause the spread of hate or to promote people's personal agendas," they added. Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North
BBC News
16-05-2025
- BBC News
Barnsley railway crossing shut after dangerous misuse
An emergency order has been passed to close a railway crossing after a string of "truly shocking" release by Network Rail showed people holding a gate shut at the Wilthorpe footpath crossing in Barnsley to trap others on the line as well as placing ballast on the tracks and lying down on the tracks to pose for order was granted by Barnsley Council after 15 dangerous incidents were recorded in the space of eight weeks. Andy Cunningham, route level crossing manager at Network Rail, described the behaviour as the worst he had seen saying it was "fortunate not to have had a fatality". He said the crossing was a popular walking route for residents and the decision to shut it had not been taken lightly."People are repeatedly risking their own and other people's lives."But, given the evidence and the severity of the situation, we believe that closing the crossing is the most responsible course of action to prevent any potential accidents or injuries," he said. Barnsley Council approved the emergency closure order on crossing will remain shut for three weeks, after which Network Rail said it would apply for a six-month order to keep it closed Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North
