Barnsley area councils help residents claim £2m in unclaimed benefits

Barnsley was the first borough in South Yorkshire to implement the area councils in 2013, in which the area’s councillors help determine the priorities for that area.

Area Councils are allocated an annual budget of £100,000 to be spent as they see fit.

The funding is available for small groups and organisations to apply for to deliver projects and events in each area.

Since the area councils were set up – in North, North East, central, Dearne, Penistone and South, £2,062,451 has been claimed for residents.

Almost 800 community groups have been supported, as well as 2,300 socially isolated people.

More than 270 community project have been funded through the councils.

During today’s (June 27) cabinet meeting, leader of the concil Sir Steve Houghton said: “This is another example of the good governance that we have in Barnsley.

“We always listen to our communities, we can’t always give them what they would want.

“The governance system in Barnsley has enabled us to do the kinds of things we’ve just been hearing about now, and it’s a modelt hat has been copied elsewhere in the country, so I think people can be proud of that.”

Councillor Chis Lamb added: “It’s quite staggering, and I think we should all be very, very proud that we’ve managed to achieve this and remember, of course, it was Barnsley that was the first borough in the authority to actually adopt this.”