Barnsley kids to get free access to climbing walls, music studios and more at new youth zone
It's after a £150,000 investment
Thousands of Barnsley children will be able to access the town’s soon-to-open Base71 Youth Zone for free, after councillors approved a £150,000 investment.
At a meeting yesterday (September 3), Barnsley Council’s cabinet agreed to cover the first-year £5 membership fee for all eight to 18-year-olds living in the borough. The scheme is part of the council’s Great Childhoods Ambition programme, which aims to ensure no child is left behind when it comes to enrichment opportunities.
Base71, located on Schwäbisch Gmünd Way near Barnsley Interchange, will be the first OnSide Youth Zone in Yorkshire. Named by local young people, the centre is packed with facilities.
It will feature an indoor climbing wall, a four-court sports hall, a fitness suite with state-of-the-art gym equipment, a boxing and martial arts room, performing arts and dance studios, and a music suite complete with instruments and recording equipment.
Creative activities will be catered for with arts and crafts rooms, a sensory room, film and multimedia spaces, and a teaching kitchen where young people can learn cooking skills. A large open-plan recreation area and a café serving hot, nutritious meals for £1 will give young people space to relax and socialise.
Outdoors, there will be a floodlit multi-use games pitch, while breakout rooms will host employability workshops, health projects, and youth participation activities.
Base71 will open on a soft-launch basis in autumn 2025, with the full programme of activities available from January 2026. From that date, all Barnsley residents who sign up before March 2026 will benefit from a free first-year membership, though families will still need to pay the standard 50p per session fee.
The council estimates around 30,000 young people could benefit. Funding will come from additional resources made available through the Government’s Local Government Finance Settlement for 2025/26.
The council says the move supports its ambition to help children “belong, explore, dream, grow and connect”, and forms part of wider commitments to build a “Healthy, Learning and Growing Barnsley.”