New rules to simplify planning process in Barnsley as development set to intensify

A set of new planning rules have been signed off by Barnsley Council’s ruling Cabinet in an attempt to help smooth the process of reaching agreements with developers.
Barnsley Town HallBarnsley Town Hall
Barnsley Town Hall

The authority has been working its way through a set of new guidelines called Special Planning Documents, introduced to cope with what is expected to be a development boom following the introduction of Barnsley’s Local Plan, which opens up large tracts of land for housing and commercial development, earlier this year.

They are intended to regularise stipulations around new developments and the contributions developers are expected to make as part of the planning permission to go ahead with new projects.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Some have already been adopted, with the latest covering arrangements for the cash expected to contribute to sustainable transport and parking, among other responsibilities.

They also cover guidelines for developments in the historic villages of Elsecar and Cawthorne.

One SPD revisited following consultations is that outlining what contributions should be expected towards sustainable transport.

Head of Planning, Joe Jenkinson, told Cabinet members that calculation was straight forwards for residential developments, but less easy to apply the same equation to all commercial developments.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

As such, the SPD had reverted to the existing arrangement of working out payments on a development by development basis.

“We are trying to go down the route of a set formula to make it easy for developers to understand what their obligations will be,” he said.

“That is easy for residential but harder for commercial.”

Reverting to the existing system of working out contributions was “the most pragmatic approach”, he said.