Mayor and local leaders agree £30 million boost for Doncaster’s economic recovery

The investment comes as part of a ground-breaking plan agreed by Sheffield City Region Mayor Dan Jarvis and the leader of Doncaster Council, Mayor Ros Jones, alongside the leaders of local authorities in Barnsley, Rotherham and Sheffield.

Over the next 12 months, the funding will help a range of projects across the borough, including:

• Continued development of the Doncaster Quality Streets programme, to transform the town centre with investment in homes, active travel routes and high-speed broadband.
• Investment in flood defences at Bentley and natural flood management schemes at Conisbrough and Tickhill.
• Investment in Doncaster College, with improved digital infrastructure and new facilities and space so learners can develop their skills in modern methods of construction, to support the local economy.
• Retrofitting homes across the borough to make them more energy efficient and create green jobs.
• Road and active travel improvements to better connect people to employment sites at M18 Junction 3 and the iPort.
• Further improvements to Doncaster Station, with better active travel routes to the station and access to Doncaster College and improvements at the stations at Kirk Sandall, Thorne, Conisbrough, Bentley and Adwick.
• Active travel schemes in Thorne and Moorends, Conisbrough to Warmsworth and the Unity development in Hatfield.
• Work on a new high-speed bus route between Doncaster and Barnsley.

Doncaster will also share in the new South Yorkshire Renewal Fund from 2022, a game-changing investment fund worth up to £500m for jobs, skills, businesses and infrastructure, to unlock the potential of the region’s people, businesses and places.

The plans will approved by the Sheffield City Region Mayoral Combined Authority on Monday, March 22. 

Mayor of the Sheffield City Region, Dan Jarvis, said: “Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. That’s why local leaders and I are rewriting the rule book, using powers and resources secured from Westminster to invest in Doncaster’s people, businesses and town centres and high streets.

“We will deliver an immediate investment of £30 million over the next 12 months in the things that matter to people in Doncaster, helping the borough’s recovery from COVID. This is the power of devolution: it means we can protect and create jobs, build new flood defences, create stronger transport links and revitalise high streets and towns.

“We’ve started to make Doncaster an even better place to live, work and invest and we believe that our best days lie ahead of us. We have ambitions to go further and we want to create a stronger, greener fairer Doncaster for all. That’s why Doncaster will benefit from the new £500m South Yorkshire Renewal Fund from 2022 to continue the transformation of the borough.”

Mayor Ros Jones said the further investment would be a welcome step change for the borough. “I am determined that Doncaster aspires to and meets its full potential as a borough of growth, enterprise and support to our communities and businesses. The pandemic has hit people hard and we have worked strenuously to support our communities through what I certainly hope is a once in a generation issue.

“I have sought to maximise the opportunities for investment and change in the borough. Having taken stock of what our residents have been saying in our Doncaster Talks conversations, this funding helps to build better, fairer, greener and stronger. I have long made the case for Doncaster as being a borough that is ambitious, innovative and supportive.

“I along with other leaders and Mayor Jarvis have been thinking outside of the box to ensure that significant investment will come to Doncaster and South Yorkshire as a whole and help build upon our ambitions for the borough and access vital investment in our future. This is good news. We have come a long way in our transformation journey and this now hails a brighter and exciting future ahead.”

This investment builds on the £73 million that has already been secured by the Mayor and MCA for Doncaster, worth £236 per person in the borough, over the last six years. It has helped deliver projects such as:

• Revitalising Doncaster town centre with investment in the Wool Market and new Savoy cinema.
• The Yorkshire Wildlife Park, with a new entrance, visitor hub with restaurants, hotel and investment in signature animal reserves, to boost the borough’s tourism industry and create jobs.
• Increasing capacity and car park improvements at Doncaster Sheffield Airport.
• Support for the Advanced Transport and Infrastructure College to help learners find careers in the transport and infrastructure industry.
• Delivered major road improvements including the Great Yorkshire Way and connecting Doncaster Sheffield Airport to the M18.