Barnsley fire site left empty for four years as councillor presses for rebuilding plan
The Woodland Drive homes were demolished after the 2022 heatwave fire, but the land remains empty. Now a councillor asks what happens next.
Four years after a fire destroyed homes on Woodland Drive, a Barnsley councillor is asking why the cleared site has still not been rebuilt.
Four properties were gutted when a blaze spread from a garden shed during the record heatwave on July 19, 2022. The damaged homes were subsequently demolished.
Councillor Philip Wright will ask Barnsley Council at Thursday’s full council meeting what it intends to do with the land, arguing that it could provide homes again when housing is in short supply.
Speaking at Woodland Drive ahead of the meeting, he said the site had been left uneven, with pieces of concrete still in the ground. Residents had complained about overgrown grass and the appearance of the land, he said, and had raised concerns about rats.
“It’s as rough,” he said. “There’s still lumps of concrete and things in there.”
Coun Wright said the ward alliance had arranged for the grass to be cut back. It then asked whether wildflowers could be planted to improve the site while it remained empty, but was told there might be plans for the land.
“Are you going to build on this?” he said. “There’s a shortage of houses. It’s effectively a brownfield site.”
He said services were already in place and homes had stood there before the fire. Rebuilding, he argued, would also give neighbours a better maintained site to live beside.
“At the moment, it’s just not good enough.”
Coun Wright’s question asks the cabinet member responsible for housing to set out the council’s intentions for rebuilding the homes.