Celebrating Barnsley – the place of possibilities

We’re celebrating a whole year since the official launch of Barnsley’s vision and ambitions for 2030.

Over the last 12 months, our 2030 Board, made up of key stakeholders from across the borough and chaired by Cllr Sir Steve Houghton CBE, Leader of Barnsley Council, have been working together in partnership to drive our ambitions forward. 

Cllr Sir Steve Houghton CBE, Leader of Barnsley Council, said: “I’m really pleased with what we’ve achieved together with our partners over the past 12 months. It’s right for us to celebrate our fantastic borough and the people who live, work and visit here. Barnsley really is the place of possibilities with the noticeable transformation happening across the borough, including the town centre, the Glass Works, and the range of job opportunities available in Barnsley at the moment.

“We’re filled with excitement and optimism for the future and we’re committed to making sure that our ambitions are made possible and enrich the lives of people in Barnsley.”

Some of the key highlights include:  

Healthy Barnsley  

• We’re working with the Hospital, the Clinical Commissioning Group and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds to explore how Barnsley’s green spaces and natural habitats can improve mental and physical wellbeing. 
• Our BeWell@Work programme helps businesses and organisations to support healthier, happier employees. 
• We’re working with our health partners and Barnsley College to develop a CARE Academy. The Academy will support social care providers and NHS organisations to recruit and retain staff, improve quality and access to careers in Health and Social Care. 

Learning Barnsley  

• In the last 12 months, more than 1.8 million visits have been made to our cultural and heritage sites. This includes Cannon Hall, Elsecar Heritage Centre, Wentworth Castle Gardens, and Experience Barnsley Museums. That’s more visits than there were before the pandemic. 
• 31.1% of people aged 16 to 64 years old have a level 4 qualification or higher. That’s a rise of 2.7% of people from the previous year, which brings us up to the national average. 
• Barnsley College was recognised as Outstanding by Ofsted. It’s the first Further Education college in Yorkshire to achieve this grading under the new Education Inspection Framework.  

Growing Barnsley  

• We’ve developed a plan that looks at further investment and growth opportunities across the borough, including Principal Towns. 
• More people are visiting Barnsley town centre. There’s more footfall than before the pandemic, and numbers are rising. 
• We’ve created 1,113 jobs, which include managerial, professional, technical and skilled roles, 95 new business start-ups across the borough, 27 businesses have relocated to Barnsley, and helped 149 businesses to grow.
• We’re working with the Chamber of Commerce, Business Village and the Department for Work and Pensions to improve access to jobs. This includes a review of our business centres. We’re looking at how new start-ups can thrive in and beyond the first two years of trading. We’re also encouraging inward investment opportunities and businesses relocating to Barnsley.  

Sustainable Barnsley  

• A key partnership group has been developed to help us focus our efforts to be a ‘net zero borough’ by 2045. The Positive Climate Partnership will look at housing retrofit and develop a sustainability knowledge hub for businesses, green transport and logistics. 
• Work is underway to improve our active travel routes and public rights of way across the borough. We’re already seeing a reduction in fly tipping, although there’s still lots of work to do. Barnsley’s getting even better at household recycling. We divert almost 98% of waste from going to landfill.