Your council

Barnsley: what’s happening where you live

What the council itself has published on the five things it most shapes for a household: homes, getting about, the bill, the local environment and schools. Each line is quoted from the council’s own document, with the link. This page says what was decided or proposed; it never says whether it was right.

This page is built from official registers only; the council’s own publications have not been read yet, and every line below says so where that leaves a gap.

Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council: Metropolitan district (unitary), England, Yorkshire and The Humber; part of the SCR combined authority. GOV.UK lists it as a unitary council. ONS code E08000016 (ONS now lists E08000038).

Council website

Do it online

The council’s own service pages as listed by GOV.UK’s Local Links Manager (Open Government Licence), refreshed weekly; the same list of everyday services, in the same order, for every council, in GOV.UK’s wording.

Housing

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Transport

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Council tax

Band D set by Barnsley for 2026–27: £1,942.29 of a £2,325.96 total bill in the area. MHCLG, Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2026 to 2027 (Open Government Licence).

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Environment

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Education

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Changes to schools in this area recorded by the Department for Education Updated automatically

No school here is currently recorded as proposed to open or close.

In the last twelve months: 3 opened (2 academy converter, 1 split school), 3 closed (2 academy converter, 1 result of amalgamation/merger)

Jump Primary School (primary) — closed; reason recorded: academy converter, 31 March 2026
Northern College for Residential Adult Education Limited (16 plus) — closed; reason recorded: result of amalgamation/merger, 28 February 2026
The Ellis Church of England (Voluntary Aided) Primary School (primary) — closed; reason recorded: academy converter, 31 October 2025
Jump Primary Academy (primary) — open; reason recorded: academy converter, 1 April 2026
The Ellis Church of England Primary School (primary) — open; reason recorded: academy converter, 1 November 2025
West Riding Academy — open; reason recorded: split school, 1 April 2026

Get Information about Schools, DfE’s register of every school in England, refreshed daily (Open Government Licence). The register’s own reason is shown: most closures and openings are a school becoming an academy, which changes who runs it, not whether it is there.

What the council plans to spend, 2026–27

The budget for each service, as Barnsley reported it to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The same headings, in the same order, for every council in England.

Barnsley: budget by service, 2026 to 2027
Service	Budget
Education services	£168.7 million
Highways and transport services	£3.1 million
Children's social care	£102.8 million
Adult social care	£106.7 million
Public health	£25.9 million
Housing services (general fund only)	£10.1 million
Cultural and related services	£13.4 million
Environmental and regulatory services	£35.5 million
Planning and development services	£11.4 million
Police services	none budgeted
Fire and rescue services	none budgeted
Central services	£7.5 million
Other services	none budgeted
Total service expenditure	£485.1 million

Net current expenditure: net of sales, fees and charges; spending funded by the NHS, such as through the Better Care Fund, is excluded.A minus figure means the service’s income is budgeted to be more than its spending. “None budgeted” usually means another body runs that service here. Source: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Revenue Account Budget 2026 to 2027, individual local authority data (part 1), updated 11 June 2026 (Open Government Licence).

Barnsley in numbers

Official statistics for the whole council area. Each figure is the latest published, with the period it covers.

Children in relative poverty after housing costs: 31.5% April 2024 to March 2025 · Department for Work and PensionsPercentage of children aged under 16 living in relative low income families After Housing Costs (AHC)
Average house price: £175,537 July 2026 · HM Land RegistryAverage monthly price of a property (£)
Housing affordability ratio (residence-based): 4.9 affordability ratio 1 April 2025 · Office for National StatisticsRatio of median house price to median gross annual residence-based earnings
Female healthy life expectancy: 55.3 years 2022 to 2024 · Office for National StatisticsAverage years expected to be lived in good health for females born in the given year
Male healthy life expectancy: 55.2 years 2022 to 2024 · Office for National StatisticsAverage years expected to be lived in good health for males born in the given year
Greenhouse gas emissions: 4.6 tCO2e per capita 2024 · Department for Energy Security and Net ZeroGreenhouse gas emissions (tCO2e) per capita
Gigabit capable broadband: 91.3% 1 January 2026 · OfcomPercentage of premises that have coverage from a gigabit-capable service (download speeds of 1,000 Mbps or more)
Public electric vehicle chargers: 82.6 per 100,000 population 1 July 2026 · Department for Transport, sourced from ZapmapPublicly available electric vehicle chargers at all speeds per 100,000 people

Gathered by the Office for National Statistics in Explore Local Statistics (Open Government Licence), refreshed daily. Some figures aren’t published for every nation, so the list can be shorter outside England.

Who runs the council

63 seats in 2026. Run by: Reform UK, with a majority. Open Council Data (public domain).

Councillors by party: Reform UK 42, Labour Party 11, Liberal Democrats 8, Independent / Other 2.

Next scheduled council election: 2 May 2030.

All 63 councillors, by ward

Ian Earp (Reform UK) — Athersley & New Lodge
Jayne Hulme (Reform UK) — Athersley & New Lodge
Rocky Laybourn (Reform UK) — Athersley & New Lodge
Janine Moyes (Labour Party) — Central
Martin O'Donoghue (Labour Party) — Central
Nicola Sumner (Labour Party) — Central
Joe Hayward (Labour Party) — Cudworth
Stan Bryan (Reform UK) — Cudworth
Stephen Houghton (Labour Party) — Cudworth
David Goddard (Reform UK) — Darfield & Great Houghton
Gary Hall (Reform UK) — Darfield & Great Houghton
Scott McKenzie (Reform UK) — Darfield & Great Houghton
Carl Snowden (Liberal Democrats) — Darton East
Dickie Denton (Liberal Democrats) — Darton East
Leyla Nayeri (Liberal Democrats) — Darton East
Andy Cudworth (Reform UK) — Darton West
Luca Turner (Reform UK) — Darton West
Sam Burdett (Reform UK) — Darton West
Brian Kilner (Reform UK) — Dearne North
Luke Wheat (Reform UK) — Dearne North
Neil Young (Reform UK) — Dearne North
Christopher Charlton (Reform UK) — Dearne South
Kay Kilner (Reform UK) — Dearne South
Mark Langridge (Reform UK) — Dearne South
Betty Barnes (Reform UK) — Dodworth, Stainborough & Tankersley
Melvyn Bird (Reform UK) — Dodworth, Stainborough & Tankersley
Michael Naughton (Reform UK) — Dodworth, Stainborough & Tankersley
Brian Gregory (Reform UK) — Hoyland Milton
Michael Davies (Reform UK) — Hoyland Milton
Rachael Kay (Reform UK) — Hoyland Milton
Ian Guest (Liberal Democrats) — Kingstone
Philip Wright (Liberal Democrats) — Kingstone
Stephen Bullcock (Liberal Democrats) — Kingstone
Alan Parker (Reform UK) — Monk Bretton
Katie Milner (Reform UK) — Monk Bretton
Paul Kelly (Reform UK) — Monk Bretton
John Sidebottom (Reform UK) — North East
Martin Bancroft (Reform UK) — North East
William Brown (Reform UK) — North East
Brandon Green (Labour Party) — Old Town
Jo Newing (Labour Party) — Old Town
Phillip Lofts (Labour Party) — Old Town
Alex Burnett (Labour Party) — Penistone East
Frances Nixon (Labour Party) — Penistone East
Kay Hughes (Reform UK) — Penistone East
David Greenhough (Liberal Democrats) — Penistone West
Florentine Bootha-King (Liberal Democrats) — Penistone West
Vicky Jackson (Reform UK) — Penistone West
Andrew Wray (Independent / Other) — Rockingham
Christopher Denton (Reform UK) — Rockingham
Pat Gregory (Reform UK) — Rockingham
Nick Everest (Reform UK) — Royston
Stefan McCrum (Reform UK) — Royston
Terry Durkin (Reform UK) — Royston
Andrew Gillis (Reform UK) — Stairfoot
Edward Dillingham (Reform UK) — Stairfoot
Liam Hardcastle (Reform UK) — Stairfoot
Andy Arnold (Reform UK) — Wombwell
James Higginbottom (Labour Party) — Wombwell
Theresa Arnold (Reform UK) — Wombwell
Gill Carr (Reform UK) — Worsbrough
Jake Lodge (Independent / Other) — Worsbrough
Mike Lycett (Reform UK) — Worsbrough

Each councillor’s register of interests is on the council’s own website; we have not yet located the page. Councillors from Open Council Data as recorded after the May 2026 elections; a by-election since then may have changed one seat. Attendance and allowances are not shown.

This council’s meeting papers are not yet read automatically, so decisions and motions are not listed here; they are on the council’s website.

Write to your councillors → WriteToThem (mySociety) finds them from your postcode; nothing is sent through this site.

Cite this page

Harvard style. Every figure on the page also names its original source, which is usually the better thing to cite.

Every council page has the same five headings in the same order. Sources are the council’s own publications and official statistics. Council list: mySociety, UK Local Authorities (CC BY 4.0) and WhatDoTheyKnow authorities (CC BY-SA 4.0); council websites, tiers and service links: GOV.UK (Open Government Licence); codes: ONS Code History Database (Open Government Licence). Corrections: hello@whatsittome.org.