The Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley is a metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England; its main town is Barnsley. The borough is bisected by the M1 motorway; it is rural to the west, and largely urban/industrial to the east. 68% of Barnsley's 32,863 hectares is green belt and 9% is National Park land, the majority of which is West of the M1. In 2007 it was estimated that Barnsley had 224,600 residents, measured at the 2011 census as 231,221. nine tenths of whom live east of the M1. The borough now forms part of both the Sheffield City Region and the Leeds City Region.