BARNSLEY Council has beaten other authorities in South Yorkshire after its local plan the 15-year blueprint for housing and employment development in the borough was formally adopted yesterday.
Barnsley Council approved a framework which is supposed to ensure the prosperity and economic future of Barnsley.
Leader of the council Coun Sir Steve Houghton said that he was pleased the council had come together to see that the plan is the ‘best route forward’ for the borough as a whole.
He said: “We are the first council in South Yorkshire to come up with a local plan which puts us in a strategically strong position. It gives the borough a strong economical future.
“I know that not everyone was ever going to agree on everything, but on the whole I believe having the local plan adopted puts us in good stead and gives us the power to stop any silly developments that would not benefit the area.
“Barnsley is 70 per cent green belt, we are only looking to develop 2.2 per cent of it.”
The local plan sets out local planning policies and identifies how land is used, determining what will be built where. Barnsley’s local plan allows for the creation of 28,840 jobs along with 21,546 homes developed.
Coun Houghton said: “The local plan is the end product of a five year process, it is not something that is done overnight. There have been full and extensive public enquiries and it has been assessed by the government. There are two key issues that have been on the forefront of our minds when creating the local plan.
“This plan allocates more than 28,500 jobs which is immensely important in continuing the prosperity of Barnsley and will hopefully create quality jobs that mean people stay here.
“It will also create more than 21,500 new houses over the next 15 years because people need quality places to live, for example affordable homes in the west of the borough, where they are needed and also aspirational homes for people to make a home here and build a future in Barnsley.
“The plan is trying to ensure that all needs are met.”
Coun Jeff Ennis approved of the local plan even though he did not agree with all points within it.
He said: “I can see that the officers who have produced this plan have dotted all the i’s and crossed the t’s, I am not happy with all of it but it is a blueprint for the future of our magnificent town.”
The council has been working on the local plan for five years and this includes ‘mini masterplans’ to oversee the developments on five significant sites: the land near junction 37 of the M1, as well as Hoyland, Goldthorpe, Carlton, and Royston.
