News: Rotherham regen roles refilled

Two council roles, key to the continued regeneration of Rotherham, have seen changes in recent weeks.

There is a new Strategic Director of Regeneration and Environment and a new cabinet member for Transport, Jobs and the Local Economy.

Andrew Bramidge has recently been installed as the Interim Strategic Director of Regeneration and Environment at Rotherham Council following the departure of Paul Woodcock.

With over two decades at the local authority, Woodcock has worked on almost all facets of economic development and regeneration, from inward investment and the business centres operated by RiDO (the regeneration arm of Rotherham Council), to the large scale investment projects coming to fruition in the town centre such as Forge Island.

Bramidge was most recently the Chief Executive of Harlow Council, having worked for the Essex authority since 2013 in roles such as Director of Strategic Growth and Regeneration and Head of Environment and Planning.

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The £125 - £131k a year role at Rotherham comes with the responsibility for 2,000 staff and a budget of £90m, plus further invested in capital projects. Recruitement was launched earlier this year for an interim appointment for "a period of at least six months. "

The recruitment post read: "It is an exciting time to join Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council. The Council has a number of significant regeneration programmes including the town centre’s Forge Island flagship scheme with a new 8-screen cinema; Riverside Gardens which is a new public park running alongside the River Don and the redevelopment of Rotherham markets and a new central library, supported by the Future High Streets Fund."

Following the May local elections, Cllr. Robert Taylor, the Aughton & Swallownest ward member that is fresh from a year representing the borough as the Mayor, has been named as the Cabinet Member for Transport, Jobs and the Local Economy.

Taylor replaces Cllr. Denise Lelliott, who was previously Cabinet Member for Jobs and the Local Economy and remains an elected member for the Hoober ward. Cllr Dominic Beck was Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment until October 2023. He remains an elected member for the Wales Ward

The Council has adopted the “strong” leader with a cabinet form of executive. The executive is responsible for most day-to-day decisions and cabinet members are appointed with a specific area of responsibility. The cabinet meets regularly to make decisions.

Cllr. Taylor's portfolio has overall responsibility for securing jobs and investment in the local economy as well as strategic responsibility for transportation and planning. It includes things like planning, regeneration, inward investment, economic growth and major town centre projects and development.

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News: MP backs plans for a new Rotherham mainline station

Local MP John Healey has backed bold plans for a new Rotherham mainline station.

Rothbiz reported last month on efforts to secure land at Forge Way, Parkgate.

This potential new station, developed by he South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) and Rotherham Council, alongside Network Rail, would see the reintroduction of mainline train services in Rotherham – including receiving direct London services for the first time since the 1980s.

The project was one of many contained in the "Network North" document, published by the Government when it axed HS2 going beyond Birmingham.

The total cost was listed as £107.6m in 2022. £99.5m for the station and £7.1m for the tram-train stop.

John Healey MP wrote to the Secretary of State for Transport last month to give his full support to the "visionary" plans and challenged Ministers to back their words with action.

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John Healey, MP for Wentworth & Dearne, said: “I’m giving my full support to this bold scheme to bring back mainline train services to Rotherham with a new station in Parkgate.

“Rotherham Council are working up a very impressive case for a major new transport hub in Parkgate, with a new station that provides for both mainline train services and to connect up with the Tram Train service already in the area. A new station in Parkgate is ideally placed to provide the greatest benefits of mainline train services for the town centre and the surrounding areas across the wider Dearne Valley region.

“I’m calling on Ministers to step up and match the ambition shown by Rotherham Council for our area by ensuring our scheme for a new mainline station is supported with the necessary funding needed from government to get this project done.”

In his letter, John Healey urges the Secretary of State to get behind Rotherham Council’s plans by ensuring the proper financial support required from government is given to ensure this scheme can be delivered without delay.

In the Network North document the Government states in their "commitment to the north" how they will take forward a £3billion plan to connect major cities in the North and this includes a commitment to: “Upgrade and electrify the line between Sheffield and Leeds. There is currently 1 fast train per hour taking 40 minutes; these upgrades will enable 3-4 fast trains per hour and include a new mainline station at Rotherham, which could receive direct London services for the first time since the 1980s.”

Healey has pressed the Government to provide more detail on this funding commitment, the process for how this support will be allocated and the timeframe for this to take place so the mainline station can be delivered.

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News: All South Yorkshire councils to cover Supertram losses

A transport levy paid by the four local authorities in South Yorkshire is set to be used to cover the £6.3m losses of Supertram after Stagecoach’s current contract for operation of the network ends in March.

Opened in 1994, Sheffield's Supertram system cost £240m and now serves major residential and employment sites in Sheffield. A tram-train pilot project brought new vehicles to Rotherham in 2018. The running of Supertram services, infrastructure and finances will be controlled by South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) through an arms-length company from March 22.

Rothbiz revealed in November that the cost to keep the Supertram network going for another 30 years is now nearly £600m, with only the first £105.95m secured, and that £7m is being set aside from the MCA budgets to support any operating losses. This is £7m each year, reducing over time.

The Mayoral Combined Authority Board is set to receive an update on the proposals, and budgets, when it meets next week with a business plan for Supertram on the agenda.

A 2024/25 operating budget for SYFTL (the arms-length company operating the tram) shows that operating costs are £23.6m per year for the 29km long network of four overlapping routes, served by 25 trams and seven tram-trains. Nearly 60% of costs go towards the wages and salaries of the workforce with almost 20% of the budget paying for the cost of electricity which powers the trams.

Annual income is £17.5m, which mostly comes from ticket revenues and around £1.8m from concessionary subsidies via SYMCA for elderly and disabled passengers and children.

Around 9.5 million people travel on Supertram every year. A long period of track renewal and the COVID pandemic has seen patronage fall from its peak of 15 million passengers per annum in 2010/11. There were 11.5 million passengers in 2019 prior COVID.

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A report to the SYMCA board said: "All these income streams are not enough to cover the tram system’s day-to-day running costs. In 2024/25, the operating deficit is forecast to be around £6.3m. SYMCA will pay an operating subsidy to SYFTL which will allow the company to meet all its financial obligations. SYMCA will also meet any costs necessarily incurred by SYFTL to deliver the asset renewal programme. In its own medium term financial plan, SYMCA has set aside sufficient resources (£5-7m per annum) from the South Yorkshire Transport Levy (paid by each of the four local authorities in proportion to their population) to cover the cost of the operating subsidy."

This year's transport levy is to be discussed at the same meeting. For 2024/25 it is set at £56.65m, raising an additional £1.1m of funding. The 2% increase would mean that Sheffield Council would pay in £23.6m, Doncaster £12.5m, Rotherham £10.6m and Barnsley £9.9m.

The new company's five year strategy sees Supertram go through a recovery phase before an improvement phase and then a growth phase. The plan forecasts that the operating deficit will decline as energy prices begin to stabilise.

The report adds: "One of SYFTL’s primary goals is to decrease its dependence on the public purse. To achieve this, the delivery plan includes several measures that aim to boost ticket sales and other forms of revenue, as well as identifying more cost effective ways of working. This includes new ticket collection machines which will speed up payments for customers. Efficiency in the business will be targeted with a major Timetable Optimisation Study the results of which will determine future service levels and support efficient running and manning of services."

SYMCA has put in place a two-year emergency support package for local transport in the face of a lack of resources and "stop-start" government funding for buses. The authority states that "without sustained Government funding this level of support cannot be maintained beyond financial year 2024/25."

SYMCA website

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News: South Yorkshire Apprenticeship Hub launches

A new initiative to recruit and train more South Yorkshire apprentices has been officially launched by regional civic and business leaders.

The hub, which aims to create better quality and a higher number of apprenticeships start-ups in the region, launched recently at Rotherham’s Aesseal New York Stadium, with employers, education providers and stakeholders from across the region attending to find out more about this new service.

Now launched it will have an initial target of 300 new apprenticeships and will be a one-stop shop for businesses, apprentices, and anyone hoping to start an apprenticeship by providing a range of services.

The initiative is being funded by the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) and the South Yorkshire Colleges Partnership.

Based at SYMCA’s office on Broad Street in Sheffield, the hub will raise awareness of the benefits of apprenticeships. The hub will also provide impartial guidance and connect employers with the best training provider for their needs.

South Yorkshire Mayor, Oliver Coppard, said: “South Yorkshire doesn’t just need a bigger economy, we need a better economy. But if we’re going to get there, and if everyone is going to be able to access the jobs and opportunities that the new economy will bring, we need to make sure people have the right educational skills, so they can access opportunity wherever it might be.

“That’s what our new Apprenticeship Hub is all about; offering people, organisations and businesses a ‘one-stop shop’ for all the information and support they need to get the right skills, in the right place, so we can all benefit from more jobs, grow.”

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The Hub is based at the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority offices in Sheffield and will be delivered through the South Yorkshire Colleges Partnership.

Fliss Miller, Director of Skills at South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, said: “This is great news for the South Yorkshire economy. At the moment, there is an opportunity for us to deliver a brand-new service that employers, providers and apprentices across South Yorkshire desperately need. By offering this service, that will be delivered by SYMCA in collaboration with South Yorkshire Colleges Partnership, we are going to be able to fulfil many of the requirements that have been lacking across our region for far too long.”

South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority’s Strategy Economic Plan has a vision that South Yorkshire will recover and grow an economy that works for everyone. This includes, in terms of skills, developing 30,000 more people with higher-level skills and 9,000 fewer people with low or no skills.

A new apprenticeship levy matchmaking service was also unveiled at the launch. The service will enable larger employers to donate part of their unspent apprenticeship levy to support SMEs in funding their apprentices.

The apprenticeship levy is paid by large employers with a pay bill of more than £3m. It is set at a rate of 0.5% of their total annual pay bill. Large employers can access their levy funds to pay for apprenticeship training. Their contributions can also fund apprenticeship training for smaller employers who pay 5% of the cost of apprenticeships.

Apprenticeships not only benefit employers but enable young people and adults to earn as they learn on-the-job skills, study a qualification, and start and progress in a career.

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News: Putting manufacturing at the heart of social, environmental and economic renewal

A leading figure in the world of advanced manufacturing has joined forces with experts in innovation districts, land development and public affairs, to establish a strategic advisory business that directly supports the growth of more resilient, inclusive and sustainable economies.

Bridgway Global, headquartered in West Yorkshire, brings together the talents of three key figures – Professor Keith Ridgway CBE, Iain Thomson and John Yates – who worked together in transforming the site of the derelict Orgreave colliery and coking works in Rotherham into a cluster of advanced manufacturing companies including Rolls Royce, Boeing, McLaren, Nikken and the UKAEA.

Professor Ridgway worked with Adrian Allen OBE to launch the AMRC with Boeing in 2001. It has played the key part in the transformation of the former colliery site and has given Rotherham the recognition as being at the heart of world-class advanced manufacturing.

Expanding over the Parkway into Sheffield, the location became the UK's first Advanced Manufactuing Innovation District, with local policy makers keen to see it expand further as part of the South Yorkshire Investment Zone.

Professor Ridgway, Director of Bridgway Global who leads the business on manufacturing and industrial innovation said: “With the United States, China and the European Union putting advanced manufacturing at the heart of their economic strategies it is vital that the United Kingdom, with its ambition to be a science superpower, does not get left behind.

“We must not repeat the mistakes of the 1980s and 1990s. An innovative and expanding manufacturing base is essential to building strong communities and a more sustainable economic future, driving big gains in productivity and turning the brilliant ideas born of fundamental science into home grown businesses, technologies and products.”

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In the 1990s, government had all but abandoned South Yorkshire to de-industrialisation, but today a new community of more than 2,000 homes is blossoming at Waverley alongside the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) = a world-class cluster of aerospace, green energy, defence, and automotive brands and their supply chains.

Fellow Director and Bellona Advisors’ Managing Director Iain Thomson, who leads the business on land and property development matters and public-private partnerships, said: “The wealth of knowledge and experience in the team enables us to act as a vital bridge between advanced manufacturers, land and property interests, research institutions and both national and regional government in an era of growing devolution across the world.”

Bridgway’s initial service offer builds on this experience by providing strategic advice to major landowners and developers looking to promote new advanced manufacturing schemes and decarbonisation clusters. It will also connect advanced manufacturers – from global OEMs and their supply chains – to policy makers, Research & Development specialists and funders, to improve market conditions to grow their businesses, including the development of industrial and spatial policy at national and regional level and the creation of public-private financial instruments.

Bridgway Global Director John Yates, who was Head of External Affairs at the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) when Boeing, McLaren and the UKAEA opened facilities on the campus, added: “As a small, agile business armed with a wealth of experience in all these fields, we can be the catalyst that cuts through obstacles and delay to make things happen and get stuff done. These are challenging and uncertain times for the UK economy, but if we can bridge the divide at Orgreave we believe we can be a bridge over troubled economic waters anywhere.”

Bridgway Global website

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News: Rotherham sites included in South Yorkshire Investment Zone

Huge areas of Rotherham are set to benefit from Investment Zone status, and the support and financial incentives that come with it.

Local leaders have however secured agreement with the government NOT to use tax incentives as a means of attracting new firms and jobs.

Rothbiz revealed in July that the new Investment Zone will use the region’s success in advanced manufacturing and will help make South Yorkshire the best place to start, scale or relocate businesses from around the world, boosting the UK economy.

Primarily focused on connecting Sheffield to Rotherham (where the research assets such as The University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) are already located), it is expected to create 8,000 new jobs and bring in £1.2bn worth of private investment by 2030.

An £80m fund (over five years for the Investment Zone) will be used to offer investors, developers and start-ups a combination of targeted support and financial interventions to start, scale up and relocate their businesses.

The South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) has recently published a prospectus for the South Yorkshire Inzestment Zone setting out the "next stage in the journey" in expanding the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District (AMID) to include town and city centres in Rotherham and Sheffield - "reflecting the growing presence of urban start-ups and scale ups, and to provide space to grow for our booming digital and data service companies."

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The designation comes with a flexible funding offer of £80m over five years beginning in 2024/25, which is deployable across a range of interventions (R&D, skills, infrastructure, business support, planning and development) will drive innovation-led growth that will lead to more employment, higher pay and higher living standards in South Yorkshire.

Key Rotherham sites have been included in a proposed spatial core. These include the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) at Waverley, parts of Brinsworth and Canklow, the remaining regeneration sites at Templeborough, the Meadowbank Road area along with Holmes and Masbrough, the whole of Rotherham town centre, the Greasbrough Road area, Eastwood, Barbot Hall Industrial Estate, areas of Parkgate (but not the existing retail parks or adjacent land), and land at Aldwarke (but not the existing Liberty Steel works).

The area in the spatial core around Rotherham town centre is described in the prospectus as "a corridor of realised and future growth potential, traditionally geared toward industry and manufacturing that is now unlocking an enhanced and accelerated opportunity to invest and scale a business in an established advanced manufacturing technology hub.

"Adjacent to the economic assets clustered around the AMP, the zone offers openings for co-location in a rich industry ecosystem of national significance, comprising innovative, successful businesses who are world leaders in their field. A new integrated mainline station will provide strategic rail connections and support the development of a new business district adjacent to the station.

"This location includes key advanced manufacturing businesses (such as AESSEAL, AMG Superalloys, MLT advanced [MTL Advanced], Vector X-Cel Ltd, Trelleborg and Liberty Speciality Steels). Supported through both the Future High Streets Fund, Town Deal and Levelling Up Fund, over a £100m of new investment will revitalise the town. Through this the traditional retail offer is diversifying into complementary leisure and residential uses. A new market, cinema, hotel and restaurants alongside new homes and outstanding public realm will contribute to this vibrant new community."

Key interventions for the zone are being explored but they will not include tax incentives.

A SYMCA paper explains: "The main decision taken on interventions to date is not to pursue tax sites. This position is drawn from evidence that suggests geographically concentrated tax incentives can lead to displacement of activity rather than new activity. SYMCA had to push Government on this. A strong case, based on robust economic evidence, was successful in securing more flexible interventions.

"The risks of displacement ... were considered too large, as were the complications of administering tax sites. The flexibility of £80m funding was considered more valuable."

Interventions are likely to include investment in capital infrastructure (land remediation, new lab space); skills support (training, graduate schemes); dedicated support on planning applications; funding to develop supply chains; and funding to develop the business ecosystem through networking and accelerator programmes.

In the foreward to the prospectus, Oliver Coppard, mayor of South Yorkshire, said: "South Yorkshire has been a leader before: we were the centre of the steel and coal industries and a crucible of the Industrial Revolution; we’re the birthplace of football and the host of world snooker. South Yorkshire is the place countless world leading musicians, artists and thinkers call home, with breathtaking landscapes and warm, welcoming, connected communities.

"But it’s fair to say that for too long our history, our economic assets, our relatively low costs of capital, land and labour, and our high quality of lIfe have not been enough to attract sustained, meaningful investment.

"And while our strengths have sometimes been overlooked by those from outside, what’s perhaps worse is that all too often we have forgotten them ourselves.

"Which is why I’m now determined we will finally make change happen. Our time is now."

SYMCA website

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News: South Yorkshire celebrates gaining Local Visitor Economy Partnership status

South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) has welcomed the creation of the South Yorkshire Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP), a collaboration between SYMCA, Sheffield City Council, Doncaster City Council, Rotherham MBC and Barnsley MBC to work together on shared priorities and targets to grow the local visitor economy.

Developed and administered by Visit England, the LVEP programme is one of the key recommendations in the Government's response to the independent de Bois Review of Destination Management Organisations in England.

The LVEP programme, which will be led by Sheffield City Council, will create a national portfolio of strategic and high-performing partnerships working in collaboration locally, regionally and nationally on shared priorities and targets to support and grow the visitor economy.

LVEPs are at tier 2 with Tier 1 set to be a small number of Destination Development Partnerships (DDPs) which will be formed through partnerships of LVEPs.

After submitting an expression of interest, Marketing Sheffield were told that it did not have the geographical coverage required by VisitEngland and the remit wsa widened to South Yorkshire.

With no financial contribution from LAs required at this stage, the LVEP will be delivered as a working partnership thus amplifying the combined efforts of existing teams. SYMCA has indicated a willingness to support with funding and resource.

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South Yorkshire’s Mayor, Oliver Coppard, said: “Here in South Yorkshire we couldn’t be more proud of our world class music, landscapes, festivals and sport. We’re the birthplace of football and the home of snooker, we powered the Industrial Revolution and have England’s oldest national park. We celebrate art, music and literature like nowhere else.

“And now we have a new opportunity to share our beauty, our history, our culture, and our talent with the rest of our world. Our new Local Visitor Economy Partnership, being developed with the support of Visit England, will give visitors from far and wide the chance to explore and experience South Yorkshire in all its glory. I’m excited to see that partnership develop across all of Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield.”

Rotherham Council’s Cabinet Member for Social Inclusion, Councillor David Sheppard commented: “The LVEP accreditation will considerably strengthen opportunities to collaborate more effectively with neighbouring boroughs and the MCA and to partner with the private sector to ensure we continue to promote the many reasons to work, live, visit and invest in Rotherham and South Yorkshire as a whole.

“Wentworth Woodhouse, Magna Science Adventure Centre, Gulliver’s Valley and Rother Valley and Thrybergh Country Parks are big drivers of Rotherham’s visitor economy and the accreditation will help celebrate and promote these attractions and the green spaces that are unique to Rotherham’s heritage.”

The draft plan for South Yorkshire aims to diversify and strengthen the events programme, grow the conference market and develop the city breaks offer.

A DDP may be the most appropriate Yorkshire wide model to take forward over time and SYMCA continues to work in partnership with local and combined authorities across Yorkshire on the Yorkshire Tourism Initiative focused on promoting Yorkshire as a visitor destination. This project is being delivered by Barnsley MBC.

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News: South Yorkshire confirmed as UK's first Investment Zone

A ministerial visit to South Yorkshire from Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has confirmed the first Investment Zone in the UK.

Rothbiz revealed last week that the new Investment Zone will use the region’s success in advanced manufacturing and will help make South Yorkshire the best place to start, scale or relocate businesses from around the world, boosting the UK economy.

Primarily focused on connecting Sheffield to Rotherham (where the research assets such as The University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) are already located), it is expected to create 8,000 new jobs and bring in £1.2bn worth of private investment by 2030.

An £80m fund (over five years for the Investment Zone) will be used to offer investors, developers and start-ups a combination of targeted support and financial interventions to start, scale up and relocate their businesses.

Existing innovation assets, including the Advanced Manufactuting Park (AMP) in Rotherham, the Olympic Legacy Park and the University of Sheffield Innovation District and the rest of the Sheffield Business Park in Sheffield, will be joined by expansion sites as the core expands into Sheffield city centre and Rotherham town centre.

Rotherham expansion sites include remaining land at Waverley and around Magna at Templeborough - both around 25.5 hectares / 63 acres.

Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council Leader, Cllr. Chris Read, said: “We always welcome any investment into our region, and as a Council we have already secured millions in funding into our borough for our communities. Today’s announcement builds on the successes of the Advanced Manufacturing Park and other big-name companies who have also chosen to invest here.

"Our new manufacturing economy is helping to bring more high paid jobs to Rotherham and the Investment Zone agreed for South Yorkshire today demonstrates the national significance of this. We look forward to seeing how it will help us in achieving our aim of meeting the needs of our communities and building on the good work we are already doing in this area.”

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The first investment announced is a more than £80m Boeing-led research project into manufacturing lightweight structures for aeroplanes – a key part of making aviation more sustainable.

Compass (Composites at Speed and Scale) will be built as an extension to the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre’s Factory 2050 on the site of the former Sheffield Airport. It will be built with support from the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, Sheffield City Council and the High Value Manufacturing Catapult.

Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, said: “Our first Investment Zone is a shining example of how we will drive growth across the country.

“It’s already secured more than £80 million of private investment, including backing from Boeing, and will help support more than 8,000 jobs by 2030.”

South Yorkshire’s Mayor Oliver Coppard said: “Our Investment Zone will help put South Yorkshire back where we belong; at the forefront of this country’s manufacturing-led growth.

“Technology created in South Yorkshire built the modern world. Because in South Yorkshire we have always known how to deliver practical solutions to big challenges. Yesterday it was stainless steel and our coal industry, today it is AI, Robotics and creating lighter, stronger materials for Jet Zero.

“That’s why this new Investment Zone status is so important. Because with the support of partners like Boeing, and working with the government, we’re showing we have the tools, the technology and the confidence to build on our strengths as not just the world’s first, but the world’s best Advanced Manufacturing District.”

The most recent Enterprise Zones in the 2010's included parts of the AMP and Templeborough in Rotherham and involved business rates discounts and simplified planning arrangements for businesses in specific target sectors. When it was announced in 2011, it was forecast to create 12,600 jobs and attract around 250 new advanced manufacturing and technology-based businesses to the area by 2015. It was hoped to reach 20,000 jobs, 400 businesses and £20m a year in new business rates from over 6.4 million sq ft of floor space.

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News: South Yorkshire Investment Zone to focus on Sheffield-Rotherham corridor

A shift in government policy means that a new Investment Zone for South Yorkshire will benefit sites in Rotherham. It is set to be backed by a flexible £80m fund for grants and tax incentives to help businesses start, expand or relocate.

South Yorkshire was one of 38 initial areas keen to establish investment zones in England and an expression of interest was submitted last year when the focus was on tax cuts for businesses and liberalised planning rules.

Since then, a number of changes in leadership positions in government has meant that the policy has been under review.

Initially, no sites in Rotherham were put forward for the creation of an investment zone in South Yorkshire but the government announced in The Budget in March that it was launching a refocussed Investment Zones programme with a greater emphasis on research institutions and priority sectors, including advanced manufacturing.

In line with its levelling up objectives, the government said that: "Investment Zones will be established in places with significant unmet productivity potential, and where existing strengths and assets aligned to priority sectors can be leveraged to increase opportunities for local communities. By focussing on growing high-potential innovation and industrial strengths in areas with significant scope for catch up economic growth, this plan will seek to drive national productivity growth."

South Yorkshire was one of eight areas selected to work up proposals and a report to the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) shows that the Investment Zones must have a lead sector and a defined spatial core that is built around an existing cluster with close links to research institutions.

For South Yorkshire this core spatial offer is set to be connecting Sheffield to Rotherham (where the research assets such as The University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) are already located).

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The report states that the focus on the core, that is already home to 30 nationally recognised research centres, is "an approach that enables us [to] expand and create greater density at existing innovation sites as well as bringing sites from across South Yorkshire to the table for new business investment."

Existing innovation assets, including the Advanced Manufactuting Park (AMP) in Rotherham, the Olympic Legacy Park and the University of Sheffield Innovation District and the rest of the Sheffield Business Park in Sheffield, will be joined by expansion sites as the core expands into Sheffield city centre and Rotherham town centre.

Rotherham expansion sites include remaining land at Waverley and around Magna at Templeborough - both around 25.5 hectares / 63 acres.

The report adds: "We’ve stretched the principle of co-design with government as far as we can. We’ve focused our story and work on the basis that our real capabilities are problem solving and working at the interface between industry and research in the here and the now – and that to supercharge South Yorkshire we don’t just need more research – we need greater stickiness of businesses aggregating around that research."

And for that "stickiness" the £80m fund (over five years for the Investment Zone) will be used for things like: capital infrastructure (land remediation, new lab space); skills support (training, graduate schemes); dedicated support on planning applications; funding to develop supply chains; and funding to develop the business ecosystem through networking and accelerator programmes.

The South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) is working to submit details of its Investment Zone before the Parliament summer recess later this month.

South Yorkshire, and especially Rotherham, has a long history of similar policies. Enterprise Zones established in the 1990's were influential in the regeneration of former coalfield areas such as Manvers, and earlier Enterprise Zones led to the creation of Parkgate Shopping without the need for local planning approval.

The most recent Enterprise Zones in the 2010's included parts of the AMP and Templeborough in Rotherham and involved business rates discounts and simplified planning arrangements for businesses in specific target sectors.

Images: Harworth

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News: New business growth board and economic advisory council set to launch in South Yorkshire

South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) is creating a new Business Advisory Board and a Mayor’s Economic Advisory Council to replace the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).

Led by the Mayor of South Yorkshire, the combined authority brings together the local authorities of Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield together with the private sector-led Local Enterprise Partnership.

Previously covering a wider economic area as the Sheffield City Region (SCR) LEP, a lack of consensus from council leaders denied it the chance to conclude a devolution deal with the Government.

In the March Budget, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that LEPs would be integrated with local authorities by March 2024.

The Business Advisory Board will be made up of private sector representatives from a range of industries, building on the success of the LEP which has informed local economic policy, driven growth, and helped create more than 45,000 jobs since 2010.

Alongside, there will also be a new Mayor’s Economic Advisory Council (MEAC) established which will see the development of a strategic economic council with sector-specific national and international expertise from business, Government, and academic leaders. Their role will be to assist the mayor in setting and delivering a long-term economic plan for South Yorkshire to create jobs and grow productivity.

The MEAC will focus on evidence-based advisory outputs, with an emphasis on building stronger, collaborative offers across the north for transport planning, trade and investment promotion and innovation capabilities.

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South Yorkshire’s Mayor Oliver Coppard said: “I am determined to grow South Yorkshire’s economy; to harness our talent and potential, and to create thousands of new jobs in the industries of the future. South Yorkshire has to be a place where everyone has the chance to thrive. But we can only build a bigger, better economy if we work in partnership with our business community, with them playing a full role in shaping our policies and plans.

“The two new advisory boards we are setting up will not only deliver on my commitment to make our formal structures better reflect our business community, but will also bring in world leading academics, businesspeople and leaders to challenge, support, and shout about what we’re doing here in South Yorkshire.

“Our region is turning a corner. We’re more ambitious, more confident and we’re working better together across South Yorkshire. With these two new boards in place, I’ve no doubt that we’re going to build that bigger, better economy we all so desperately want and need.

“I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been a part of the LEP since its inception in 2014. Their hard work has helped to shape our growth agenda, guide our economic policy, and brought significant investment to South Yorkshire. This new chapter is all about building on the legacy of that work so we can continue to improve the lives of people right across our communities.”

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Richard Stubbs, LEP Chair and CEO of Yorkshire & Humber Academic Science Network said: “Across South Yorkshire we have been working for some months now on plans to evolve the great work of the LEP and to build on the positive impact it’s had on our region for the past decade.

“The new Business Advisory Board will allow elected leaders to engage with and convene a wider pool of businesses, harnessing a broad spectrum of expertise to make key decisions on how to grow South Yorkshire’s economy.

“The function of the Mayors Economic Advisory Council will be to shape the long-term vision for South Yorkshire, to use their expertise and look ahead at what it could be like in the next 25 years by harnessing the shared ambition across the business community, academics, and elected leaders.

“The LEP has made a significant contribution to our region’s economic growth and job creation over the past decade, and it has been a true honour to be a board member for several years, and to conclude my time on the LEP as chair, working alongside hard-working representatives from our business community who all give their time voluntarily for the good of our region. We now have an exciting opportunity to build on the years of positive work of the LEP, to collaborate more affectively with the ultimate goal of creating a South Yorkshire that everyone can be proud of, thrive in, and where people want to invest in.”

SYMCA is also moving to a new governance model, with a cabinet-style leadership model, in the Autumn, with the Mayor and Local Authority leaders adopting portfolio responsibilities.

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News: Rotherham regeneration at UKREiiF

Regeneration projects across Rotherham and the rest of South Yorkshire where on show last week at UK’s Real Estate, Investment and Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF).

Key players, influencers and decision makers gathered at Leeds’ Royal Armouries Museum to highlight investment and development opportunities. The message from South Yorkshire was around the area being a location at the heart of the UK, which offers a world-class investment and relocation opportunity, as well as being a great place to live and work.

Rotherham Council joined with the other local authorities and the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) to showcase the region’s recent success stories and attract further investment to drive economic growth.

Investible opportunities where featured in a "Transforming Rotherham" showcase including the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) and wider Waverley site, projects backed by Government funding including in the town centre and Dinnington such as Riverside Residential and Corporation Street, the proposed new Mainline Station, and further regeneration at Templeborough.

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Rotherham-based regeneration firm, Harworth Group, were also in attendance and they hosted an event all about its AMP success story and why it is a Blueprint for High-Tech Productivity. THe panel discussed the multi-decade journey from deindustrialised former coal mine to hub of high-tech manufacturing and innovation, and why it continues to thrive.

South Yorkshire’s Mayor, Oliver Coppard, said: “This is a hugely exciting time for South Yorkshire. We’re a region turning our huge potential into reality. Already world-leaders in advanced manufacturing, we attract companies, investors and leaders from around the world.

"We’re at the cutting edge of research into health sciences and renewable energy. We have two globally respected universities and a thriving cultural sector. We combine rural beauty and urban edge right at the heart of the UK, with the Peak District National Park as our backdrop.

"We’re working with Westminster to bring more devolution to South Yorkshire so we have the powers, money and control to shape our economy so it works for us. With new leadership, ambitious plans and a warm welcome for everyone who wants to live, work and invest here, there has never been a better time to come to South Yorkshire.”

Invest in Rotherham website

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News: South Yorkshire's Investment Zone sites revealed

A number of sites have been put forward to the Government for a proposed new Investment Zone which aims to bring business investment and release land for new homes in South Yorkshire.

The majority are in Sheffield with the Gateway East site in Doncaster only to be included if Doncaster Sheffield Airport (DSA) remains an operational airport.

As part of the Government's recently announced Growth Plan, Investment Zones will drive growth and unlock housing across the UK by lowering taxes and liberalising planning frameworks to encourage rapid development and business investment.

However, the future of Investment Zones is up in the air, given the recent installment of another new Prime Minister.

South Yorkshire was one of 38 initial areas keen to establish investment zones in England.

Measures could include 100% business rates relief on newly occupied and expanded premises and full stamp duty land tax relief, with the need for planning applications minimised. Authorities have been promised 100% of the business rates growth above an agreed baseline in designated sites for 25 years and a single local growth settlement.

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The Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) is to discuss the issue next month and address how Investment Zones can help South Yorkshire leverage greater investment and better enable fairer, sustainable growth.

Discussion points centre on public and private sectors working together, the displacement of jobs and investment from within the region and the impact on the mayoral combined authority's Net Zero ambitions.

The sites submitted to Government:
• Goldthorpe Investment Zone
Mixed Use site of 26.3 hectares intended to create 2,413 gross jobs and 638 new houses
• Northeast Doncaster
Mixed Use site of 502 hectares intended to create 16,000 new jobs and 3,350 residential dwellings
• Doncaster City Centre
Mixed Use site of c.110 hectares with the potential to regenerate Doncaster City Centre through better employment opportunities, new commercial accommodation, residential development and inward investment.
• Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park (AMID)
Commercial site of 32.4 hectares intended to create 5,800 additional jobs
• Sheffield Business Park & University of Sheffield Innovation District (AMID)
Commercial site of 45.6 hectares intended to create 3,124 additional jobs
• River Don District (AMID)
Commercial site of 18.4 hectares intended to create 5,000 additional jobs
• Wider Sheffield-Rotherham Economic Corridor
Mixed Use site with potential to provide better employment opportunities, housing and inward investment to connect with existing nearby clusters in advanced manufacturing, R&D and retail developments.
• Sheffield Station Sheaf Valley
Mixed Use site of 4.94 hectares intended to create 760 new houses, 7,800sqm office space, 11,700 sqm ground floor commercial space and 2,975 sqm ancillary space
• Moorfoot (Sheffield)
Residential site of 8.6 hectares intended to create 2,120 new houses
• Furnace Hill (Sheffield)
Residential site of 5.91 hectares intended to create 846 new houses
• Neepsend (Sheffield)
Residential site of 2.6 hectares intended to create 1,005 new houses

The decision over Gateway East highlights the current situation with the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority and Peel after the investment enterprise announced that it was winding down operations at DSA.

Gateway East was put forward as a location for a Freeport in 2021 but South Yorkshire was not one of the areas selected for a Freeport by the Government.

A report to the South Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership states: "The MCA submission, on the basis that Doncaster Sheffield Airport (DSA) remains an operational airport, also included the potential for DSA and the adjacent Gateway East site to be considered.

"A response from Government is expected within the coming weeks with details of decisions on each of the sites including which incentives can and will be applied."

The Government indicated that they would expect to see Investment Zone designation and the benefits of that designation to be in place by April 2023.

SYMCA website

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News: Government in talks to create Investment Zone in South Yorkshire

A new Investment Zone could be created in South Yorkshire with the aim of bringing business investment and releasing land for new homes.

As part of the Government's recently announced Growth Plan, Investment Zones will drive growth and unlock housing across the UK by lowering taxes and liberalising planning frameworks to encourage rapid development and business investment.

The Government said that it was in discussions with 38 local authorities to establish investment zones in England, including with the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA), who were keen to get involved now. Discussions will continue to decide on specific sites within the area.

The announcement said: "Each Investment Zone will offer generous, targeted and time limited tax cuts for businesses and liberalised planning rules to release more land for housing and commercial development. These will be hubs for growth, encouraging investment in new shopping centres, restaurants, apartments and offices, and creating thriving new communities."

To accelerate development, the need for planning applications will be minimised in designated development sites and, where planning applications remain necessary, they will be "radically streamlined." Development sites may be co-located with, or separate to, tax sites, depending on what makes most sense for the local economy.

In addition, subject to demonstrating readiness, SYMCA would receive a single local growth settlement in the next Spending Review period.

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Further detail from the Treasury states: "Businesses in designated areas in investment zones will benefit from 100% business rates relief on newly occupied and expanded premises. Local authorities hosting Investment Zones will receive 100% of the business rates growth above an agreed baseline in designated sites for 25 years.

"In addition businesses will receive full stamp duty land tax relief on land bought for commercial or residential development and a zero rate for Employer National Insurance contributions on new employee earnings up to £50,270 per year.

"To incentivise investment there will be a 100% first year enhanced capital allowance relief for plant and machinery used within designated sites and accelerated Enhanced Structures and Buildings Allowance relief of 20% per year."

South Yorkshire, and especially Rotherham, has a long history of similar policies. Enterprise Zones established in the 1990's were influential in the regeneration of former coalfield ares such as Manvers, and ealier Enterprise Zones led to the creation of Parkgate Shopping without the need for local planning approval.

The most recent Enterprise Zones in the 2010's included parts of the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) and Templeborough in Rotherham and involved business rates discounts and simplified planning arrangements for businesses in specific target sectors.

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News: Government pulls out of Rotherham mainline station

The Department for Transport has put the brakes on a proposed new £30m mainline station, described as being of "fundamental importance to Rotherham."

Despite being described by experts as "a relatively straightforward scheme for delivery within three to four years," the Government has now confirmed that it will not allow the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) to use £8m from its City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS) for the project.

Instead, the SYMCA is being allowed to only spend up to £1m from the pot between now and 2027 to "develop the Outline Business Case (OBC) for an integrated mainline and tram-train station."

When the Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands (IRP) was published by the Government last November, it scaled back ambitions for Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) with Rotherham and Sheffield missed off the new network. The IRP also showed that the HS2 Phase 2b Eastern leg would no longer reach Leeds and instead included a pledge to look at options on how best to take HS2 services to Leeds.

The decision was recently described as "a missed opportunity" by the Transport Committee.

In repsonse to the plans, SYMCA said that missing Rotherham off NPR network "runs contrary to the desire to "level up" communities." Rotherham Council described the mainline station as being of "fundamental importance to Rotherham" and added that any downgrading of the scheme "would be a direct detriment to our borough."

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In a letter to South Yorkshire Mayor, Oliver Coppard, confirming delivery plans, Grant Shapps, Secretary of State for Transport, said: "Following a further assessment process, I can confirm that the following scheme will not be funded in full in this CRSTS period: Rotherham Mainline station, including tram-train element.

"SYMCA may proceed with spending up to £1m in this CRSTS period to develop the Outline Business Case (OBC) for an integrated mainline and tram-train station. Any further spend is subject to HMG [government] approval based on a value for money and affordability assessment for the integrated station as a whole. This assessment should work on the basis of existing HMG commitments only and should assume by default that no funding outside of CRSTS is available.

"I therefore request that you work with my officials to bring forward additional schemes for the remainder of this funding."

The settlement consolidates funding from previous allocations of the Highways Maintenance Block, Potholes Fund and Integrated Transport Block.

As well as £8m from the CRSTS, £10m has been earmarked to support the mainline station as part of Rotherham Council’s successful £31.6m award from the Towns Fund.

The Parkgate area is the front runner with the council and the private sector led Town Deal board already working on a business case focusing on the benefits of the station and the regeneration opportunities around it.

Consultants LCR have been appointed to work on a station masterplan and the strategic acquisition of land is also being prepared.

NPR is also expected to fund the mainline station.

An update on the studies into taking HS2 services to Leeds, which could benefit Rotherham, are expected in September.

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News: Government's rail plan for the North "a missed opportunity"

A thorough reassessment of the Government’s Integrated Rail Plan is essential to ensure this once-in-a-generation investment in rail is not a missed opportunity to address regional imbalances, urges the Transport Committee.

When the Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands (IRP) was published last November, it scaled back ambitions for Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) with Rotherham and Sheffield missed off the new network. The IRP also showed that the HS2 Phase 2b Eastern leg would no longer reach Leeds and instead included a pledge to look at options on how best to take HS2 services to Leeds.

The latest report says that alternative options, which could transform stations and city centres in key Northern cities, have not been properly tested. Leaving out key elements of analysis of the wider economic impacts of the different options set out for Northern Powerhouse Rail means that value for money and economic return cannot be compared and validated.

The Committee called for a full analysis of the wider economic impacts, and a full benefit-cost ratio, for the different Northern Powerhouse Rail options. If the results demonstrate that other options offer better value and outcomes for the taxpayer, economy and the communities directly impacted, MPs say Government ‘must grasp the nettle’ and make the necessary changes.

The Chair of the Transport Committee, Huw Merriman MP, said: “We welcome the scale of the Government’s promised spending on rail. At £96 billion, the Government has billed it ‘the largest single rail investment ever made by a UK Government’. The Committee agrees it has the potential to transform rail travel for future generations.

“However, many towns and cities are already disappointed by the proposals which have been set out. The Prime Minister promised that he would, with Northern Powerhouse Rail, do for the North what he did for Londoners with Crossrail. Instead, much of the track will be an upgrade of existing line. The business case of HS2 was based on it going east to Leeds. Now, it stops in the East Midlands without any understanding of how much money is saved."

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Despite being missed off the list, Government cash had already earmarked for Rotherham mainline station and so local proponents continue to work up plans. The Parkgate area is the front runner and the project could also be tied together with a tram train station.

The South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) told the Government, and this committee, that missing Rotherham off NPR network "runs contrary to the desire to "level up" communities."

Rotherham Council also submitted evidence to the committee.

Whilst welcoming the change of HS2 route (the authority was strongly opposed to the proposed M18 route for Phase 2B from the West Midlands to Leeds "which would have inflicted a significant toll on our local community, without any meaningful benefit to our borough"), Rotherham Council wants to see savings from the change ploughed into NPR and improving local rail services.

The council's response mentions capacity issues at Sheffield Midland and the knock on effects to local services, the need for a commitment to electrification beyond Sheffield to Leeds (a so-called "Northern Loop"), and a proposal for the significant expansion of the tram-train connections from Sheffield, through Rotherham, and ultimately on to Doncaster and Doncaster Airport (this would include the conversion of Rotherham Parkgate to Swinton and Doncaster local rail services.)

On a £30m mainline station, described as being of "fundamental importance to Rotherham" the council explains that it is "developing a scheme with TfN [Transport for the North, the sub-national transport body] for a combined NPR led mainline station and SYMCA led Tram Train station connected as a single interchange.

"TfN identified that a new Mainline station in Rotherham would be a relatively straightforward scheme for delivery within three to four years and we are keen that this is recognised within government. Any downgrading of the scheme following the changing status of TfN would be a direct detriment to our borough."

The SYMCA response details that the new station "will allow NPR trains between Sheffield and Leeds and Hull to stop there and will significantly enhance regional rail connectivity for Rotherham, enabling residents and businesses to capitalise on the benefits generated from NPR services."

For example, two trains per hour, NPR "shuttles," are sought between Sheffield and Leeds stopping at Rotherham mainline.

The SYMCA response adds: "The Manchester Airport to Cleethorpes NPR service could also stop at the proposed station. Furthermore, other local and regional services could potentially also call at [the] new station, providing local connectivity to sizeable towns including Wakefield, as well as intermediate stations to Sheffield and Leeds.

"A tram-train stop on the nearby branch line would link the new station to the town centre, and other local communities. To ensure that the new station can bring much needed early economic benefits to Rotherham, its accelerated delivery should form part of the Integrated Rail Plan."

Funding for the Rotherham mainline station has already been approved - £8m from the SYMCA's City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement and £10m is earmarked to support the mainline station as part of Rotherham Council’s successful £31.6m award from the Towns Fund. NPR is also expected to fund the mainline station.

New stations have been highlighted as having the potential to be in development up to 2025 with delivery between 2025 and 2030.

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News: Shadow Chancellor to tour Rotherham town centre regeneration

Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves MP will experience Rotherham town centre transformation this week.

A new social housing project will feature prominently during the visit. Ms Reeves, who is the MP for Leeds West, will also review ongoing works and plans to transform a brownfield site into a riverside leisure destination, including a cinema, hotel, restaurants and bars.

Council Leader Chris Read, Councillor Denise Lelliott and Council officers will be showcasing Rotherham Council improvements to the high-profile guest, alongside plans for the attractive new leisure destinations and green public spaces. Oliver Coppard, New Mayor of South Yorkshire Combined Authority, will also be welcomed to the town.

The improvements are part of the Town Centre Masterplan, which was drawn up to transform large areas, including historic industrial sites. Its vision for the town centre will see it move away from large retailers to create more appealing leisure destinations and a new resident community.

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Rotherham Council adopted the Masterplan in 2017, after extensive public consultation and stakeholder engagement. The improvements and planned improvements are partially funded by millions from national grants via the Towns Deal, Levelling Up Fund and Future High Streets Fund.

That funding is supplemented by the Council’s own resources and funding from the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, Homes England, and the private sector.

Residential projects on the tour will include Rotherham Council's attempts to kickstart housebuilding in the town centre with contractor Willmott Dixon working on behalf of the Council to deliver 171 homes on authority land as part of a £31.5m contract for the "Trilogy Collection" of schemes - Wellgate Place, Millfold Rise and Westgate Riverside.

Other projects include the leisure scheme at Forge Island - where flood works are underway, the redevelopment of the markets, public space enhancements, the private sector-led revamp of Westgate Chambers and the University Centre Rotherham (UCR).

Rotherham town centre website

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News: Productivity grant opportunity for Rotherham businesses

Rotherham firms are being encouraged to apply for a grant which will help improve their productivity.

The Business Productivity Project is being run by Rotherham Council’s economic development unit, RiDO, to benefit small and medium sized businesses across the borough, part funded through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

The aim of the project is to improve firms’ productivity through the provision of capital or revenue grant, and to improve how they measure and report productivity gains.

Whilst the project is initially looking to safeguard businesses and jobs, priority will be given to those applicants that can best demonstrate how the investments will have a positive impact on productivity and the creation of potential new employment opportunities in the town.

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Rotherham’s businesses are invited to apply with an investment project up to a maximum value of £15,000, to benefit from 50% grant funding up to £7,500.

Already businesses are benefiting from receiving funding. Examples of projects that have been supported are purchase of new equipment which has increased the speed of production, therefore improving the productivity of the organisation, and new CRM software which have improved processes and improved the productivity of staff.

Paul Woodcock, Strategic Director for Regeneration and Environment at Rotherham Council, said: “This is a great opportunity for businesses within Rotherham to receive support around a project that will make their services or people more productive. We’d encourage firms to get in touch to see if they are eligible, and what the steps are, soon as there is a finite budget and timescales.”

RiDO website

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News: Allocation of EU funding replacement labelled an outrage by South Yorkshire mayor

South Yorkshire has been allocated £38m in new regeneration funding, much less than the hundreds of millions it previously received from structural EU funding that the new UK Shared Prosperity Fund replaces.

Conditional allocations of £2.6 billion over the next three years have been announced from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) with the cash to be spent regenerating rundown high streets, fighting anti-social behaviour and crime, or helping more people into decent jobs - helping to revive communities, tackle economic decline and reverse geographical disparities in the UK.

The government committed to match the previous EU funding from the European Social Fund (ESF) and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and say that the fund will be much more flexible and locally led, freeing communities from the bureaucratic, rigid and complex processes of the EU Structural Funds.

Secretary of State for Levelling Up Rt Hon Michael Gove MP said: "We have taken back control of our money from the EU and we are empowering those who know their communities best to deliver on their priorities.

"The UK Shared Prosperity Fund will help to unleash the creativity and talent of communities that have for too long been overlooked and undervalued.

"By targeting this funding at areas of the country that need it the most, we will help spread opportunity and level up in every part of the United Kingdom."

Previous settlements saw South Yorkshire allocated €410m for 2007-2013 and from 2014-2020 this was cut to around €180m. A legal challenge into the government's decision followed.

The allocation formula for UK Shared Prosperity Fund takes into account both the local population data, and a broadly based measure of need, including factors like unemployment and income levels. This is to ensure the most amount of money is going to areas which will truly benefit from the fund.

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Funding for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund will be £2.6 billion between 2022 and 2025, with this figure reaching £1.5 billion per year by March 2025, delivering on the UK government’s commitment to match the average spending of EU structural funds over the previous programme. Previous EU programmes ramped up and down, and areas will continue to receive EU funding until the end of 2024. Similarly, UK Shared Prosperity Fund will be increased from £40m in 2022/23 to £1.5 billion in 2024/25, at which point it will match the EU funds it has replaced.

The Government added that in England each Local Enterprise Partnership area "will receive the same in real terms as it used to under EU funding," and within each Local Enterprise Partnership area an index of need will be used to allocated funding to each local authority.

For South Yorkshire, allocations are £7,287,599 for Barnsley, £8,960,876 for Doncaster, £7,083,489 for Rotherham and £15,574,166 for Sheffield.

In order to access the funding, lead local authorities are being asked to complete an investment plan by the summer, setting out how they intend to use and deliver the funding.

Outgoing South Yorkshire Mayor, Dan Jarvis said: "This announcement is nothing more than an outrage; a cynical Conservative con that utterly fails South Yorkshire and drives a coach and horses through the Government’s Levelling Up agenda.

"Instead of delivering the additional £900m South Yorkshire is owed, and that I’ve consistently pushed the Government to deliver, we’ve been given little over £38m over a 3-year period. This announcement has been sneaked out just a few hours before purdah and with Parliament in recess – it exemplifies this Government’s complete contempt for people in our region.

"Throughout my time as Mayor I have worked tirelessly to build a stronger, fairer and greener South Yorkshire – but I have done so with both hands tied behind my back, because central government has broken virtually every promise it’s made to our region."

Last year, £1.84m was offered from the Community Renewal Fund to help establish a "Creative & Cultural Skills Embassy" linked to Rotherham's Children's Capital of Culture idea. The Community Renewal Fund is a precursor for the new UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

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News: Transport funding secured but region left waiting for bus transformation

The Government has confirmed the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority’s (SYMCA's) allocation for transformative investment in the region’s transport network, with Rotherham projects set to benefit.

But ambitions plans for transforming bus services in the region have not been backed by any Government funding. A funding gap was estimated to be between £430 - £474m.

The City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements (CRSTS) investment is on its way and £570m will bring significant improvements to South Yorkshire’s transport system, enabling people to make public transport and walking and cycling their first choice for travel.

The bid detailed that Government backing for the plans will:

- Improve the buses network – giving buses priority on roads, provide better vehicles, stations and stops. It includes significant investment in electric buses and installing charging infrastructure at stations and on streets and depots across South Yorkshire to move towards a zero-emission fleet
- Deliver better active travel routes, so people can leave their cars at home for short journeys, by building more than 600 miles of new cycle lanes across the region
- Invest in tram, securing the first phase of investment in the renewal of Supertram
- Build and improve stations and platforms at the region’s rail stations
- Ease congestion, build new junctions and repair potholes on South Yorkshire’s roads.

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To be spent between now and 2027, the settlement consolidates funding from previous allocations of the Highways Maintenance Block, Potholes Fund and Integrated Transport Block. The SYMCA is expected to make a contribution of at least 15-20% of the funding granted for capital enhancements.

£5.375m is also available to work up the schemes to deliver as capital projects and the region will now work with the Government to agree the final schemes and outcomes.

Rotherham schemes on the table include a new station at Waverley and a new mainline station, which is still moving ahead despite being left out of the Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands (IRP).

The funding is also expected to be invested in tram services, securing the first phase of investment in the renewal of Supertram.

The SYMCA has previously discussed asking the Government to foot most of the £439m bill to renew the existing Supertram network.

The Government made the CRSTS announcement at the same time as announcing funds to help regions to deliver Bus Service Improvement Plans (BSIP).

South Yorkshire was not on the list.

Here funding would be used to create a faster, more reliable and punctual system, a better bus experience with a zero emission fleet. A cap on daily and weekly fares and free travel for under 18s, plus access to cashless ticketing to create an easy to use system was also included.

Dan Jarvis, outgoing mayor of the SYMCA, said: "We’ve been shafted. We submitted a visionary and detailed bid to transform our bus services; we needed central government to put its money where its mouth is and back our ambition. They have once again failed the travelling public in South Yorkshire.

“The government’s so-called commitment to levelling up – which supposedly has buses at its heart – is nothing more than an empty promise."

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News: Missing Rotherham off NPR network "runs contrary to the desire to "level up" communities"

The Government may have sidelined plans for a new mainline station in Rotherham but work is continuing on the ground to keep the project moving forward.

When the Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands (IRP) was published last November, it scaled back ambitions for Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) with Rotherham and Sheffield missed off the new network. The IRP also showed that the HS2 Phase 2b Eastern leg would no longer reach Leeds and instead included a pledge to look at options on how best to take HS2 services to Leeds.

But with Government cash already earmarked for the scheme, local proponents continue to work up plans for a new station.

The Parkgate area is the front runner and the project could also be tied together with a tram train station.

The South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) worked to get a new NPR station on the mainline at Rotherham included in proposals from sub-national transport body, Transport for the North (TfN). A Barnsley Dearne Valley parkway station too.

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A response to the Government from the SYMCA on the latest plans said: "The interventions that we identified were critical to ‘level up’ South Yorkshire and achieve the wider objectives of our Strategic Economic Plan.

"The fragmentation of HS2 and NPR means that achieving these outcomes is not possible as the IRP stands, putting South Yorkshire at a relative disadvantage when it comes to connectivity with neighbouring cities in the Midlands and North and onward connections further afield, such as the South and South West, Wales and Scotland.

"More importantly, the IRP could increase the disparity between some of the areas within South Yorkshire by omitting our proposals for two new stations in South Yorkshire – in the Dearne Valley to the east of Barnsley and at Rotherham on the mainline.

"Both of these stations would provide access to regional and long-distance rail services to a far greater proportion of the South Yorkshire population, spreading the benefits of the investment and helping to support SYMCA’s economic and housing growth plans. Initial analysis by TfN shows how Barnsley Dearne Valley and Rotherham stations can grow the rail market in South Yorkshire and both provided positive contributions to the NPR business case.

"Indeed, a new station at Rotherham shows a positive revenue case and a high value for money even without the planned NPR and HS2 services. For the IRP not to recognise this clear benefit and seemingly move consideration of this enhancement into a longer-term study of HS2 services to Leeds runs contrary to the desire to ‘level up’ communities.

"The omission also undervalues the complementary investment that devolved funding within South Yorkshire was seeking to align with the proposals. SYMCA included further work on the new mainline station at Rotherham in its recent City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement programme and Rotherham Council is seeking to purchase the required land as part of its agreed Towns Fund programme. Lack of recognition in the IRP of the new station puts this complementary investment, and the overall outcomes envisaged, at some risk."

The Government had already indicated a commitment of £20m through the Towns Fund and City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements (CRSTS) programme to support the development of a new mainline Rotherham station at Parkgate.

In spite of the Government's ommision, Rotherham Council and the private sector led Town Deal board are working on a business case focussing on the benefits of the station and the regeneration opportunities around it.

Consultants LCR have been appointed to work on a station masterplan and the strategic acquisition of land is also being prepared.

Rotherham Council's cabinet has recently granted permission for the authority to acquire, negotiate and use Compulsary Purchase Orders to obtain land to support regeneration. This includes land facilitating the development of a new mainline station where "selected acquisition is required to de-risk the project."

Images: DfT

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