CHIEF Constable Stephen Watson officially opened South Yorkshire Police’s mounted section in Cudworth last week.
Ring Farm, which is currently home to ten police horses, has new showering, drying and changing facilities, a computer room and a space for eating and resting.
A building on the farm has also been refurbished and will now house the officers and staff, meaning that they can be based on the farm with their four-legged partners.
South Yorkshire Police, just one of 13 police forces in the UK with a mounted department, previously based its team in Cudworth before the department moved to Wakefield.
However, last year it was announced that they would return to Cudworth - together with a £275,000 investment package to refurbish Ring Farm.
Coun Charlie Wraith, who represents the Cudworth ward and was present at the ribbon-cutting ceremony alongside Mayor of Barnsley Coun Pauline Markham, told the Chronicle the police’s U-turn had been a welcome one.
“Police are vital in communities like Cudworth,” he added. “The village’s station reopened last year and the investment in Ring Farm provides further proof of what’s being done on a neighbourhood policing level. Long may that continue.”
