PLANS to change the way the council elect its councillors - which will in turn save more than £1m every seven years - are set to be put forward to cabinet next week.

There are currently 63 councillors in the chamber, with 21 wards and three councillors per ward.

Elections are currently held over a four-year cycle - with a third of seats up for grabs every year, with no elections taking place in the fourth year.

Changing to whole council elections would mean that all seats on the council would be elected at the same time, once every four years.

The estimated cost for each election held by the council is £400,000 - but this has been split with a number of other elections, including the Mayoral one, in recent years.

But the change would achieve an estimated saving of £1.2m over the next seven years, the council say.

If the plans are agreed at a meeting on Wednesday, a six-week public consultation will take place from March 20.

Sarah Norman, chief executive at Barnsley Council, said: “We want our council to reflect modern ways of working, and this potential change highlights how we’re transforming long-standing systems and effective use of resources to improve public services for our residents now and in the future.”