New build bonanza for Barnsley

THIS week Barnsley Council has been informed that all its four bids submitted to the second round of the Local Authority Challenge Fund last October have been successful. This means that Barnsley can now build new council homes for rent on five sites across the borough.  

The four bids have attracted just under £4 million in grant funding which will enable a further 62 new council homes to be developed in Barnsley. This represents the largest allocation of grant in this round to any local authority in the Yorkshire and Humber region.

Cllr Bill Newman, Cabinet spokesperson for Development, said it was fantastic news for Barnsley.

“The competition for this grant funding was open to all local authorities in England and the success of all the Barnsley bids is a testament to the quality of the bids that we submitted,” he said. “I am very proud to be able to announce that a total of 78 new council dwelling for rent will be built in the borough by April 2011. Officers from the council and Berneslai Homes have worked very hard to pull together the successful bids.”

Each of the four successful housing schemes has been designed to high specification, with a particular emphasis on the dwellings meeting high standards of energy efficiency. A further consideration in the development bids was that they meet the specific housing needs of the local communities.

The four schemes given the go-ahead this week are

the redevelopment of the outdated sheltered scheme at Grange House in Brierley which will be replaced by a development of 12 two-bedroom bungalows,
the redevelopment of the former Lacewood school site in Bolton-upon-Dearne, which will offer 16 new homes in a mixed development of two and three bedroom houses, two-bedroom apartments and three bedroom bungalows, one of which will be built to full mobility standards,
the development at Lidget Lane will improve the appearance of this key gateway into Thurnscoe and will provide 19 new dwellings in a mixed development of two three and four bedroom houses as well as a number of two-bedroom apartments,
the final scheme is at Bellbrooke Avenue at Darfield and the 15 new council dwellings will complement the new Chevin Housing Association development providing a mixed development of two and three bedroom houses and a 3 bedroom disabled family bungalow.

 These schemes are in addition to the successful round 1 scheme at Vernon Crescent, Worsbrough, which will deliver 16 new two-bedroom apartments to a high specification.

Berneslai Homes will project manage the construction of the new developments and will subsequently manage the properties on behalf of the council.

ENDS