Council leader “astonished” at online criticism of new £1million children’s home in South Yorkshire

During this week’s meeting of the council’s cabinet, Sir Steve Houghton said that the authority has a legal duty to look after vulnerable children, and that spending the money on a new children’s home is “morally and financially” the “right thing to do”.

Cabinet members voted to approve the plans, which would see the council spend £1m on a suitable property, with estimated running costs for the five-bed home to be £663,976 per year.

The cost for looked-after children being cared for out of the borough is on average £3,725 per week, and a report states that the authority could save around £304,524 per year for the children that a new home would accommodate.

Sir Steve told the meeting: “I think people need to understand the council officers and elected members have a legal duty to safeguard and protect the children of Barnsley. That is in law, there isn’t a choice on that.

“We also have a moral duty to do that for our children, particularly the most vulnerable, and particularly ones who may have lost their parents or ones or in difficult family circumstances where they need to be safe in different environments.

“This is to ensure that we’ve got the right provision for our children, particularly those vulnerable children that need it. And I’m proud that we’re doing that.”

Sir Steve went on to add that looking after youngsters is “expensive, but worth every penny”, and that paying for a new children’s home would be “the right thing to do morally and financially”.

He also added that he does not agree with those “scaremongering or telling false stories or attacking members and officers for things they are supposed to be doing.”

Sir Steve also warned that officers would look into “legal remedies” into “false allegations” against “professional people or elected members who are doing nothing more than the duty they should be doing.”

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