× BARNSLEY’S councillors collectively pocketed almost £1m in the last year through annual allowances and expenses, figures obtained by the Chronicle revealed.
There are 63 councillors, three in each ward, and each received a basic allowance of £11,620 in 2020/21 - a rise on last year’s £11,309 according to a report.
However, it is only £645 more than they were paid a decade ago.
Back then, in response to huge budget cuts from central government, councillors voted to cut their own pay by five per cent, and it didn’t increase at all until 2015/16.
In addition to their basic allowance, some councillors receive special responsibility pay for carrying out extra duties, such as serving on the council’s ruling cabinet, or chairing committees such as planning or licensing.
SCOUT leaders in Barnsley have set their sights on recruiting dozens of new volunteers after figures revealed membership has dropped by almost a third sinc.
LAND allocated for almost 2,000 homes in Barnsley Council’s future development blueprint will be scrutinised by the public during a consultation period whi.
HOW did Barnsley, at the turn of the 1970s, resemble a small Belgian city? Readers might shudder when they think back to the ill-judged and ultimately cann.
× WORK to demolish a derelict former care home in Monk Bretton is finally underway after years of arson attacks.
Outline planning permission was granted to demolish the Belmont facility, off Lamb Lane, and replace it with a residential development of up to 82 homes.
Applicant Anthony Lidster, whose family own the site, had originally sought consent in August 2019 though it wasn’t approved until earlier this month.
More than a dozen fires deemed ‘serious’ have occurred at the building - which was erected in the late 1960s - since January 2019.
Coun Steve Green, who represents the Monk Bretton ward, told the Chronicle he is glad to see work to demolish the ‘eyesore’ of a building has started.