About Barnsley Central
Barnsley Central is one of four constituencies which comprise the Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Area. Since the last general election Barnsley Central now covers the following 8 wards and the communities contained therein:
Royston;
Monk Bretton including Carlton, Lundwood and Cundy Cross;
Kingstone including Worsborough Common;
Central including the town Centre and Oakwell;
Old Town including Honeywell and part of Pogmoor;
Darton East including Satincross and Mapplewell;
Darton West including Barugh, Barugh Green, Kexborough and of course Darton;
St Helens including New Lodge and Athersley.
Located to the east of the Pennines and just north of Sheffield, Barnsley is a former mining community which suffered as a consequence of the run down of the coal industry. Other industries include glass and textiles. Barnsley was a European Objective One area which meant that it qualified for financial assistance in view of its poor economic performance.
Regeneration is still a priority in Barnsley. The ongoing Remaking Barnsley Project will see the complete re-development of the town centre and already we have seen the completion of the new Transport Interchange and Digital Media Centre which is providing start up facilities for new companies in the Digital Sector. Barnsley is taking a lead role in the Digital Region Project which aims to improve access to high speed broadband across the region. In addition, the re-development of the Civic Hall has been completed providing a new arts centre and theatre space.
The town will also see the rebuilding of nearly all our schools over the next few years. The town has benefited under the last government's "Building Schools for the Future" programme which is a £300 million project to re-build every secondary school and an academy. These schools will be known as Adult Learning Centres and will be open from early morning to late at night to benefit the whole of their communities. Barnsley college is also undertaking phase 3 of its redevelopment programme which will provide state of the art further education facilities for the town.
