HALFWAY houses for recovering drug addicts are to be opened in Barnsley for the first time, the Chronicle can reveal.

The council has been given £1.9m to spend on creating 12 places to live for drug addicts and alcoholics who are on official treatment programmes.

Some of the occupants will have criminal convictions but it is unlikely they will be people on bail. Regular testing is compulsory and anyone caught using drugs or alcohol will be evicted. One building, which is likely to be put next to council offices at Beevor Court, will house six addicts who need the support of staff 24/7. Empty flats on William Street in Worsbrough, which were used by alcoholics who still drank and known as 'wet houses', will be converted into studio flats for four people. The occupants will have progressed to the stage where constant supervision is not required but help will be available whenever it is needed.

The other two units, with one person in each one, will go on Aldham House Lane in Wombwell and the New Lodge estate. They will be for addicts who are almost ready to live independently. The council accepts the move will be controversial but hopes any residents who are against it will change their minds when the units are open.

Spokesman for adult services Coun David Bostwick says misgivings about such projects are often based on misunderstanding and that the units will be indistinguishable from normal homes. He added: "There is nothing to fear from having accommodation of this type in your neighbourhood. They are not drug users, they are beyond that, the point of this is so they do not slip back into taking drugs."

A request for planning permission will be submitted shortly. This is when the public will be given a chance to air their views.