We are not taking the ‘easy’ options...

I read with interest two articles in the Chronicle last week, on page three – ‘one in five homes workless’ – and page ten’s ‘council house demand up by 143 per cent’.

I would like to add that the number of working-age people in Barnsley who are not working and are regarded as not actively seeking work stands at 43,000 people (28.1 per cent).

The figure for the region is much lower at 22.2 per cent and nationally stands at just 21 per cent.

In the last few days, we have also seen Michael Gove, the Tory housing minister, recommit to an extra 300,000 new houses per year and we will be expected to build our share here in Barnsley.

The King’s Fund think-tank recently carried out independent research that concluded there is direct correlation between low incomes and poor health and that the economic and social consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic risk further worsening these inequalities.

Whilst nobody would argue that mining was a pleasant or healthy industry, it did provide work and incomes to 30,000 Barnsley people and Barnsley Council continues to work towards replacing those jobs and incomes in our local economy.

The statistics clearly demonstrate that there is still some distance to travel, particularly if we want to provide employment opportunity to those who are economically inactive.

This and a predicted recession explain why the development of employment and housing sites in Barnsley is so vital.

We completely understand that people don’t like change and are angered by the disruption that comes with large scale development but surely none of us want our children and grandchildren to say, ‘you had the power to provide new jobs, energy efficient homes and consequently reduce health inequality, but you chose the politically easy option of ‘no change’.

Whilst opposition councillors and candidates can afford themselves the luxury of opposing everything, the reality is that if we were to turn down applications for developments without very compelling reasons, we would lose such cases at national appeal, costing the local taxpayer many thousands of pounds in the process.

In recognising that development needs to be properly managed and not a free-for-all, this Labour council implemented masterplans that prevent unfettered development, enabling us to ensure high standards in construction, landscaping and sustainability.

The EVRI development at Hoyland Common is a good example of this – we were able to get these safeguards agreed before any construction started and now provides secure, unionised employment for hundreds of local people, many who were previously unemployed and economically inactive.

The Tory government crashed the economy, but it is left to this Labour council to create the conditions for prosperity – nobody is pretending that this will be easy.