New policing team planned for Barnsley communities in bid to improve neighbourhood coverage

When Neighbourhood Police Teams were re-introduced by South Yorkshire Police in 2017, Barnsley was used as a test-bed and the principle of putting officers back into communities was successful and expanded across the county.

Since then one new neighbourhood team has already been established, working from Cudworth and giving a total of five.

But senior officers wanted to expand that to six teams, which could cover the same geographical areas as Barnsley Council's own Area Councils, making partnership working between those two bodies, and other organisations, easier to manage.

It has now been announced that a new team will work from a base in Hoyland, covering the four council wards of Hoyland Milton, Rockingham, Wombwell and Darfield.

That will mean officers and PCSOs will be much more locally based than at present, because they are based several miles away at Goldthorpe.

Acting Chief Supt Sarah Poolman told Police and Crime Commissioner Dr Alan Billings, at a meeting of his Public Accountability Board, where South Yorkshire Police are held to account: “This is the final step in aligning with the Area Councils.

“The benefits of multi-agency work around the Hoyland, Wombwell, Rockingham and Darfield is a step in the right direction.”