The South Area Council meeting included presentations on the Great Childhoods Ambition and Yorkshire Smokefree Barnsley, as well as updates on ward alliance funding, procurement, and financial matters. Councillors were also scheduled to receive performance reports and discuss various commissioned services and initiatives within the area.

Here's a breakdown of the key items:

Great Childhoods Ambition

Darrell Saxton was scheduled to give a presentation on the Great Childhoods Ambition (GCA). The GCA is described as:

our borough-wide commitment to enriching the lives of children and young people through a system-wide approach. GCA focuses beyond our statutory duties on the elements that shape a child's everyday experience—access to play, culture, learning, and community.

The strategy was scheduled to focus on creating links between existing work, identifying gaps for investment, and creating commitment across the borough. The strategy is based on five pillars: Belong, Explore, Dream, Grow and Connect.

The presentation was scheduled to cover programme investments including:

• Youth Work in Schools
• Elective Home Education (EHE) Reintegration Pilot
• Next Big Thing (Barnsley Museums youth group)
• Barnsley Schools Alliance
• Uniform costs voucher scheme
• Year 11 support packs
• LAC and Future Directions events fund
• Library engagement and registration
• Enrichment in Schools
• Fusion Arts & Culture Secondary Phase Network
• Barnsley Youth Choir Sing Festival 2026
• Libraries Every Child a Coder
• Young Producers programme
• Summer Holiday Activities/Events
• Digital Economy Symposium
• Northstar Science School
• Targeted Careers Advice
• Primary Careers Hub
• Under 18 volunteer coordinator
• Academic outcomes & Sport
• Helping Babies Thrive– Book Trust
• Grow it, Cook it, Love it projects
• Beat the Street physical activity challenge
• Breakfast of the go
• Barnsley MiCard - Free Under 18's Bus Travel
• Youth Alliance Development Manager
• Children's University
• GCA Community Grant Fund

Yorkshire Smokefree Barnsley

Suzanne McDonald from Yorkshire Smokefree Barnsley was scheduled to deliver a presentation. Yorkshire Smokefree ¹ offers 12 weeks of support, including Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT), Zyban ² or vapes. Support is offered face-to-face, via telephone and online, to adults and young people, with sessions across Barnsley. The service also offers carbon monoxide monitoring, and support and signposting for e-cigarette users.

Yorkshire Smokefree Barnsley promotes the use of vapes as a smoking cessation tool only, and operates a 'swap to stop' scheme.

Report on the Use of Ward Alliance Funds

The South Area Council was scheduled to receive a report on the use of Ward Alliance Funds ³. For the 2025/26 financial year, each ward has an allocation of £10,000. 50% of the funding requires a match-funding element of volunteer time, or other match funding resources such as free room hire or donations. The other 50% can be used for initiatives that have no volunteer element, such as the purchase and installation of benches or hanging baskets.

The report detailed the available budget and allocations for specific projects in the Darfield, Hoyland Milton/Rockingham, and Wombwell Ward Alliances.

Darfield Ward Alliance had a total available funding of £11,563.63. Project allocations included:

• Darfield Gala: £3000
• Darfield Community Centre – VE80 Celebrations: £645
• Barnsley Youth Jazz Association - Harmonies for Community: £500
• Woodall Flats - Gardening: £500
• Darfield Library - Community Noticeboard: £300
• Darfield Community Events - Summer Programme: £800
• Houghton Main Sports and Social Club: £352.46
• Darfield Foodbank: £500

Hoyland Milton/Rockingham Ward Alliance had a total available funding of £19,386.12. Project allocations included:

• VE Day - Flags: £272.40
• Elsecar Primary Academy: £1350
• Elsecar Cricket Club: £1400
• Summer Programme: £2,250
• Birdwell Gala: £750
• Birdwell Rovers JFC: £1,000
• Ward Alliance Promo Plaques: £300
• Mates of Milton - Planters: £1,044
• Hoyland Common Residents Group - Children's Summer Sessions: £464

Wombwell Ward Alliance had a total available funding of £9,792.93. Project allocations included:

• Wombwell Ward Alliance - Grassroots in the Park: £1,250
• Barnsley Youth Jazz Association - Harmonies for Community: £500
• Wombwell Foodbank: £500

Procurement and Financial Update

Lisa Lyon, South Area Council Manager, was scheduled to present a procurement and financial update on the South Area Council commissioning budget.

The update included information on the following commissioned services:

• South Area Caretaker team: Neighbourhoods services were in the process of recruiting additional team members and a vehicle. The new contract value when fully staffed and equipped was £175,391.79, up from a previous value of £121,000.
• Housing and environment officer: The post holder had secured a 12-month secondment for the team leader post on the new housing and environment task force. The Service Level Agreement costs were £45,000.
• Welfare Rights and generalist support drop in sessions: The Welfare Advisor had left the organisation, and Citizens Advice Barnsley ⁴ (CAB) were recruiting for a replacement. Cover would be provided from an alternative welfare advisor for some sessions, but some services would be affected until a replacement was appointed. The contract value was £87,864.
• Age UK Barnsley Better Together project: The two Social Inclusion Officers had been attending galas and summer events to promote the service. Winter planning had started to look at tailored support across the South. The contract value was £34,337.
• Environmental Project Officer: The post holder had been coordinating activities and covering absences within the caretaker team. The contract value was £42,425 (15 months).
• Parking Services Service Level Agreement (SLA): Barnsley Council parking services would be delivering a new SLA with an intended start date of October. The SLA would be for 23 hours (18 hours in hotspot areas and 5 hours for school patrols) worked flexibly across a Monday to Saturday, 8am – 6pm work pattern. The SLA value was £30,066.

The update also included information on additional grants and Service Level Agreements:

• £80,000 had been committed for detached outreach and young people's diversionary activities.
• A further £80,000 had been committed towards delivering a grant scheme for organisations to bid into to support young people with complex needs.
• A social isolation and loneliness grant funding pot would be relaunched.
• Environmental grant pot paperwork was being developed.

Love Where You Live

As part of Barnsley Council's £3.5 million investment into community projects, events and street scene improvements, the following had been approved by ward Councillors:

• Two CCTV cameras for Hoyland Milton and two cameras for Rockingham ward, costing £8154 per ward.
• Blacker Hill Ward Memorial: Flagpole, installation, two benches and slabbing in Hoyland Milton ward, costing £4788.30.
• Rockingham Ward arts project: £10,000 across 2 sites to develop a planter or bench that incorporates local history.

Performance Report Q1 April June 2025

The South Area Council was scheduled to receive the Performance Report for Q1 April - June 2025. The report included information from Citizens Advice Barnsley, Age UK Barnsley, the Environmental Caretaker, and the Private Sector Housing Management & Environment Officer.

Key Performance Indicators for the Stronger Communities directorate included:

• 138 Volunteering Opportunities supported
• 217 Volunteering hours
• £3,131.31 cashable value of volunteering hours
• £87,962.23 Debt managed
• £58,230.00 Unclaimed benefits secured
• 99.67% Amount of funding spent in Barnsley
• 373 Adults supported to improve emotional wellbeing, social isolation and resilience

Citizens Advice Barnsley

Citizens Advice Barnsley delivers an outreach for general and welfare benefits advice at Hoyland Library, Darfield Community Centre and Wombwell Library.

During the quarter:

• £2,861 of debt was managed
• £58,230 Overall benefit gain
• 167 clients were referred to other specialist provision
• 128 new clients were seen at outreach locations
• 292 Total number of clients seen

Age UK Barnsley Social Inclusion Service

During the quarter:

• 106 Volunteering opportunities taken up
• 10 Number of Volunteers
• £1,529.58 Cashable value of volunteering
• 17 People accessing benefits advice
• £85,101.12 Unclaimed benefits secured
• 17 Households supported experiencing fuel poverty

Environmental Caretaker

During the quarter:

• 94 Litter Picks
• 470 Purple Bags collected

The service demonstrated strong engagement across all wards, with Darfield and Wombwell recording the highest levels of activity. Full staffing levels were successfully achieved by the final week of the quarter.

Private Sector Housing Management & Environment Officer

During the quarter there were:

• 64 Number of interventions
• 37 Number of contacts made with household waste on premises
• 35 Number of ASB general letters sent
• 8 Number of people signposted to other services

The officer led and supported multiple Great British Spring Clean initiatives across the borough, and allocated Area Council funding to support skip clean-up days in key areas.