COUNCIL leader William Brown outlined his vision for the borough over the next four years in his first media interview since being elected. He shared his thoughts with the Chronicle on bin collections, road improvements and council tax - the areas that matter most to residents.

Is there really a ‘black hole’ in the council’s finances - and will the council be able to honour its election leaflet pledge to freeze council tax next year?

Council finances are subject to robust oversight, including external audit and scrutiny, and we’re committed to being transparent about how public money is used and its impact.

Thankfully, we do have an excellent finance team, but unfortunately, yes, they have shared with me from day one that in the coming three years, we are projected to have a £30m gap in our finances if we carry on as we are.

A £23m funding gap to be met in the next two years is already in the public domain.

That was documented when the previous administration set the council’s 2026/27 budget.

What we didn’t know before the election is that the gap grows by another £7m when looking ahead just one more year.

To respond to this, the council already has a savings strategy in place, and this will now need to be reviewed and expanded to address the increased financial challenge.

Council officers are working on a range of savings measures, and these will be considered carefully to ensure they are deliverable and sustainable.

It’s important to me that the council’s budget focuses on delivering services that meet residents’ needs and are value for money.

This is something that we’ll be looking at as we continue to delve into the council’s finances and as we propose our Medium Term Financial Strategy for the years ahead.

My clear ambition is to keep council tax as low as possible, and we will do everything we can to deliver on our pledge.

However, we must also be honest about the financial position we’ve inherited.

We want to keep bills down, but at the same time, councils are under significant pressure and financial strain due to rising costs and increasing demand for essential services.

Services like social care, waste collection and community safety.

Any decision has to be balanced, to keep council tax as low as possible, while making sure we don’t cut back vital services.

How will you co-ordinate the housing shortage bearing in mind the surge in big planning applications seemingly in areas where they are not wanted - that we are now experiencing. To meet its target the council needs to deliver more than 1,000 homes per year by 2033 are we likely to see more huge developments like the one at Higham approved over the coming years and what can the council realistically do to balance the need for housing and supporting residents?

I understand why people feel concerned when large housing developments come forward, especially in areas where residents feel they aren’t wanted.

At the same time, Barnsley does need more homes, and the council has a legal responsibility to plan for that housing need.

The number of homes we’re expected to deliver is set nationally, and recent changes to planning rules mean that figure has increased.

For me, the priority is making sure growth is properly planned, not left to happen in a piecemeal way.

We need to balance the need for new homes with the impact on local communities, roads, schools, health services and green spaces.

We’ll always use brownfield sites where appropriate. Residents, businesses and other stakeholders will have opportunities to have their say as applications come forward from the Local Plan, and it’s important that we listen carefully to those views.

Where developments are not right for a community, we will not be afraid to challenge them.

What’s the future of the Health on the High Street plan?

I’ve visited Barnsley’s Health on the High Street development to meet staff and patients and I think it’s absolutely fantastic.

Patients can now access many appointments in the town centre instead of the hospital.

I’ve seen firsthand how this is making it easier for Barnsley people to get the right support they need, right in the heart of their town centre. It’s more convenient for patients, it’s driving down the number of missed appointments, and it’s freeing up valuable space in the hospital.

That also helps reduce the strain on parking at the hospital.

We want to press ahead with the rest of this project to bring more health and wellbeing services together in the Alhambra, and securing the best of the high street on the ground floor complementing our existing top brands.

That said, we need to make sure it represents value for money and delivers long-term benefits.

We’ll be working with officers to look at plans for the next stages of this project in the coming weeks.

Tech Town status was announced a few months ago to a blaze of publicity - but nothing seems to have happened since. What are the current plans for the scheme, and how heavily are the council involved?

The council is heavily involved as a key local partner for Tech Town, working alongside government, Barnsley College, Barnsley Hospital, the Chamber of Commerce, voluntary sector partners and universities through the Tech Town Local Reference Group.

Tech Town projects have been developed really quickly, and several of them are already being delivered.

This includes some pilot programmes which will demonstrate how AI can support both local workers and frontline services.

n Pilot one AI Upskilling with £800,000 of government funding allocated to deliver AI skills training within Barnsley, focused on small and medium businesses. We’re hoping to be able to announce the opening of applications for this soon.

n Pilot two AI Health Innovation will see Barnsley Hospital working with tech company CISCO to help improve patient experience through a ‘Healthcare Living Lab’.

n Pilot three AI Business utilising £230,000 of government funding the Council and our partners will shortly move forward with four dedicated support packages for businesses:

n Ignite AI support small business owners to understand what AI tools are available and how these cane be applied within their businesses.

n Meld AI focused on medium to large businesses this will enable companies to identify opportunities to embed AI into their long-term growth plans.

n Build Your App a programme aimed at enabling individuals to develop their app concepts into real products.

n Women in Tech a programme aimed at helping female tech entrepreneurs and owners to accelerate the growth of their businesses and secure investment, including the FoundHERy and Angel Academy projects.

Tech Town presents a significant opportunity for residents in Barnsley to be prepared for future economic and technological changes, so they are in the best position to access higher-skilled, higher-paid jobs and improved services.

We are also working on plans for a National Centre for Digital Technologies as part of our plans the upper SEAM development, this is in partnership with the Department of Science Innovation and Technology.

The bins service is still causing widespread frustration. At any one time there can be dozens of streets that have been missed featured on the service status page on the council’s website. What are the realistic chances that this service will improve especially as we head towards the winter when missed collections always hit a peak.

I fully appreciate residents’ frustrations with the issues we’ve seen, and in some cases continue to see with waste collections.

We empty more than 150,000 bins every week, and the overwhelming majority do get emptied on the right day.

However, with such huge numbers involved and resources very tight, it doesn’t take long for disruption to snowball.

This is a huge priority for me.

I’m determined to see an improvement, and I’m going to visit the Smithies depot shortly to meet the waste crews.

We need a solution to make the service more reliable for local residents.

I want to approach this with an open mind because, as far as I’m concerned, no option should be off the table.

We must get this sorted for the longer term.

Your election leaflet talks about improvements to roads and tackling the pothole problems. What is being done about this and when will we see real improvements?

This is a top priority, we’re working with our Highways team to accelerate road improvements, and as part of that, we are looking at where we can deliver schemes across the Highway network.

We’re determined that we see improvements in the very short term, so that residents will be able to see before the winter.

However, alongside that, we’re looking at the longer term to develop a four-year plan to reform and repair the roads, shifting from reactive repair to a long-term investment in our roads.

One of the major criticisms of the last administration was that there was considerable investment in Barnsley town centre but outlying towns and villages felt neglected. What can be done to ‘level up’ so that residents in other parts of the borough do not feel as if they have been forgotten?

I strongly believe investment should be felt across the borough, not just in our town centre, but in villages and neighbourhoods too.

There is an existing Principal Towns investment programme but from speaking to residents and fellow councillors, it’s clear that not all the investments are in the right places and that other things are needed to improve the quality of life in our communities.

We want to engage with all our communities so we can develop local area action plans that tackle the biggest concerns in communities.

We will rebalance investment so that towns and villages see real, visible improvements - not just the town centre.

SEND provision is another issue the previous administration was heavily criticised for you have a meeting with a representative of parents. What reforms can you make to this very expensive service without it having a massive impact on the council’s budget?

Our cabinet has just approved our major new SEND Reform Plan which has now been submitted to national government for their approval.

If approved, it will expand local support.

This includes expanding inclusion support in mainstream schools, increasing local specialist places and improving early years support through Family Hubs and education settings.

It also includes better support after age 16 and investment to help mainstream schools and colleges meet a wider range of needs.

This will mean more children and young people can be supported close to home, reducing the need for out-of-area placements.

We’ve recently achieved the highest possible outcome from our Ofsted and Care Quality Commission (CQC) SEND inspection.

This recognised the typically positive experiences and outcomes for children and young people with SEND in Barnsley.

However we know typically doesn’t mean everybody, and there is always more to do.

It’s our ambition to ensure every child and young person with SEND in Barnsley can access the right support at the right time and achieve their full potential.