Work starts on first new council homes

Barnsley Council and Berneslai Homes have secured government funding to build 16 new two-bedroomed apartments at Vernon Crescent in Ward Green.

This is the first of five newly-approved housing schemes planned in the town, which will together see 78 new council homes being built over the next year at a cost of 4.8m.

The grant money has come from the government's Local Authority

Challenge Fund initiative, which was designed to stimulate the construction industry during the economic downturn.

Councillor Bill Newman, Barnsley Council's cabinet spokesman for development, said the government funding was "great news for the people of Barnsley" and would "complement our drive to provide high-quality affordable housing across the borough."

Yesterday an event was held at Vernon Crescent to mark the beginning of work on site, which was attended by the leader of Barnsley Council, Coun Stephen Houghton, the borough's mayor, Coun John Parkinson, and representatives from Berneslai Homes and the contractor, PDR Construction. A date stone was unveiled, which will be built into the gable of the new apartments.

The project in Ward Green includes aesthetic improvements to nearby properties, roads and footpaths.

The first of the new council homes will be available for letting in the autumn.

Helen Jaggar, chief executive of Berneslai Homes, said: "This new development will provide more choice for customers on the housing waiting list.

"It will be great for the local community and will contribute to the wider regeneration initiatives that Berneslai Homes is leading on in the Worsbrough area."

It was announced in January this year that around 20m is to be spent on more than 150 council houses across South Yorkshire. Half of the funding has come from the Government, which has handed out a total of 122.6m to 73 local councils in England, and that grant money has to be matched by money borrowed by local authorities.

In addition to the 16 new flats in Vernon Crescent, 62 more houses will be built in Barnsley – in Darfield, Thurnscoe and Bolton-on-Dearne.

An event is being held from 2pm to 6pm today at the Spit and Whisper Official's Club in Thurnscoe to give people more information on the Thurnscoe scheme for new homes in Lidget Lane and Tudor Street.