A POT of cash waiting to be spent on community projects is standing idle - because a new Area Council has not decided how to share it out.
Central Area Council - a new ‘mini’ council which can carry out projects in Central Barnsley, Dodworth, Kingstone, Stairfoot and Worsbrough - has assigned less than £35,000 out of its budget but has more than £65,000 left to spend.
At the Central Area Council meeting last Monday, officer Gerry Green told members: "At this time of year I would expect about £60,000 of the total £100,000 to be committed but we're running at only £35,000. We need to focus on this over the next four to five weeks to play catch up."
Mr Green described the area council as ‘substantially behind schedule’. There were some projects involving highways and engineering services that were now on the cusp of required lead times for getting projects completed.
The area councils meet once every six weeks and some members said this was not enough.
Cllr Tom Sheard, representing Kingstone, said: "We must push on with the priorities, working alongside officers."
However, Central Area Council was told that its spending so far ‘compared favourably’ with other area councils.
