Council’s £1.1m plan to slash number of empty shops in Barnsley

A significant rise in the number of empty shops was caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, and Barnsley Town Centre has a vacancy rate of 13 per cent, the council has said.

The funding will be used to establish a new Barnsley Space Agency.

A project manager will be recruited to identify empty premises, build relationships with property agents, attract businesses to the town and establish an online directory of empty spaces.

Grants will also be available for shop fit-outs, and front improvements.

By 2028, Barnsley Council forecasts that 50 new jobs will be created due to the agency’s work.

A report to the council states: “BarSA will encourage proactive lettings of void premises, working with landlords to ensure an appropriate mix of uses.

“BarSA will explore a capital scheme for unlocking barriers to letting and deliver competition-based programmes for new start-ups to open in vacant units.

Matt O’Neill, executive director for growth and sustainability at BMBC said: “We’ve been granted £20m over 10 years under the government’s new Long-Term Plan for Towns, and a new Barnsley Town Board has been set up to look at how we might use that money to benefit Barnsley.

“The board is currently exploring a range of potential projects to fund over the next 10 years, and one of the ideas they’re considering is a new Barnsley Space Agency to look at how some of our unused premises can be brought back into use.

“The pandemic led to a major increase in vacant high street premises right across the country. In Barnsley we’ve already seen a significant improvement and we continue to see interest in the last few remaining units in The Glass Works. The Barnsley Space Agency, if supported by the board, would look at all vacant premises in the town centre and look at what could be done to help support businesses to bring spaces back into use. This will support growth and create new jobs, while also making sure we have a growing and diverse range of businesses in our thriving town centre.”