Socialists strengthen grip on authority with gain of five seats

Thursday’s elections saw Labour gain five seats from the Barnsley Independent Group, taking Darfield, Hoyland Milton, Kingstone, Old Town and Rockingham wards.

As a result, Labour now have 43 seats to the independent group’s 13. The Tories have six seats and there is one unaligned independent councillor.

Council leader Steve Houghton, who has served on Barnsley Council since 1988, said the key priority for his authority would now be to cope with the “very difficult” economic situation.

He said: “We were optimistic we would win some seats back – the feeling on the doorstep was quite positive – but we weren’t complacent.

“The result has given us a solid majority to work with over what is going to be a very difficult period for all councils, and it’s going to get harder and tougher over the next two to three years.

“Having a robust majority to work with is going to help us make some of those difficult decisions that we’re going to have to make.

“For public services it’s going to be very difficult. We’re going into territory in the public sector that the public has never seen before.

“Even in the Thatcher years we were able to maintain services, but the cuts have now gone beyond that.”

Coun Houghton said that one of the main drivers for economic improvement in Barnsley would be the town’s huge retail and markets regeneration project, which is finally moving forward after being sidelined during the recession.

He added that his Labour administration would be looking at four main “planks” in order to move Barnsley forward – these being reconsidering the authority’s economic plan; redefining the services offered by the council; trying to improve opportunities for volunteering; and also investigating how more private investment could be encouraged in the town.