THERE were 850 houses built in Barnsley last year the highest number built in the borough since 2011 but still fewer than the council’s own target and the target set by government.
Figures compiled by the BBC for the number of houses built and created through conversion of buildings across all England’s local authority areas show there were 850 new homes created in 2016-17.
That was 89 per cent of the 898 target set for Barnsley by the government, and further behind the council’s own assessment of its housing needs of between 977 and 1,389 new homes a year. In South Yorkshire only Sheffield was further behind the target at 66 per cent, Rotherham almost achieved its target at 96 per cent and Doncaster exceeded it at 152 per cent.
The rate of housing growth in Barnsley has still not recovered to the levels seen before the economic crash.
In 2004/05 there were 1,328 new homes, and in 2010/11 there were 1,171. Just two years later in 2009/10 this had fallen to less than half at just 563 new homes.
The council is currently consulting on the next stage of its Local Plan which sets out the blueprint for housing and development in the borough between now and 2033. It seeks to create more than 21,000 new homes over that period.
