DELIVERING FOR SOUTH YORKSHIRE

Fixing Our Public Transport

Difficult decisions have been taken to increase democratic control and long-term sustainability in our network:

• An early decision was taken to accelerate the franchising assessment process for South Yorkshire’s bus system - the legal process to evaluate whether the current bus system works for our region or whether a move towards franchising is appropriate.
• In the Autumn, the MCA Board agreed to bring Supertram back into public control and ownership to stabilise the network, at the end of Stagecoach’s franchise in 2024.
• Securing a £570m City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement to fund investment which is now ongoing. 
• This winter, the MCA Board took the difficult decision of agreeing to a 2% increase in the bus levy – the first increase in more than a decade – to strengthen the long-term financial sustainability of our bus network.  The four councils agreed this despite historic pressures on local authority budgets.

Whilst the MCA has taken the above steps to protect the future, it has faced severe challenges in the short-term: the on-going fallout of the pandemic; a 15% cut to the network by private bus companies; driver shortages; and the bid to Government for South Yorkshire Bus Service Improvement Plan funding, which was unsuccessful.

In response to these challenges, the MCA has prioritised using its discretionary funding to: 

• Support patronage on the bus network and address the cost of living crisis, the Board agreed to introduce a £2 bus fare cap from 1 November 2022. This has supported 1.25m journeys in South Yorkshire (with over half of those coming from communities in the three most deprived areas). 
• Extend the 18-21 “Zoom Beyond” concession. 
• Spending £5.2m to protect school routes and providing an additional £7.2m for the bus network.

Over the past year, the MCA will have spent £167m on capital projects in support of strategic transport projects and active travel, such as major investment in Parkgate, Rotherham; procuring a fleet of electric community transport minibuses; or our ZEBRA investment for a zero-emissions bus fleet.

Improving The Economy

This year, the MCA will spend £52m on employment and skills – mainly our adult education budget but including bespoke interventions like Working Win and the bespoke Skills Bank – and £15m on business support, development, trade and investment.  

This funding is in addition to the ongoing South Yorkshire Renewal Fund spending programme, with Place Plans for all four Local Authorities expected to be in place by 2024.

Our investment is yielding dividends: the share of South Yorkshire businesses classed as “high growth” is now level with Greater Manchester and Liverpool City Region.  The Mayor hosted South Yorkshire’s first Tech Summit in Barnsley, and launched the tech welcome grants scheme to encourage firms to relocate to South Yorkshire.

New sources of funding for high growth, innovative firms have become available over the past year.  Northern Gritstone – a collaboration between the Universities of Sheffield, Leeds and Manchester – has invested over £43m this year in three high value university ‘spin-outs’ in the region.

The Mayor lobbied Government for protected (and expanded) funding for Working Win pilots – helping those suffering with mental and physical illness back into the labour force.  This programme is now secure for another two years.

South Yorkshire’s Ownership Hub has now trained a network of seventy advisers across the region to support workers seeking to take ownership of their own firms – and we are helping improve access to finance for firms seeking to transition to employee ownership.  The Ownership Hub model is now being emulated across the country, most notably being adopted by the Welsh Government.

Spending over £55m on housing and infrastructure this year, including £1.5m on flood alleviation plans.  This includes major investment in town centre regeneration across South Yorkshire, such as supporting Barnsley’s Market Gate bridge, further investment in the Glassworks, and supporting Rotherham’s regeneration plans.

A significant amount of time and effort has been committed responding to the abrupt closure of Doncaster Sheffield Airport:  The Mayors of Doncaster and South Yorkshire have been at the forefront of the response to DSA’s closure, immediately mobilising aviation market experts and developing a bridging finance offer to keep the airport operational while alternative owners were identified. 

• Pursuing legal action against the Peel Group to maintain airport operations.  Doncaster Council is now pursuing a Compulsory Purchase Order of the site as a step to restore operations. 
• Commissioning a South Yorkshire-led inquiry to learn from DSA’s closure.

Achieving Net Zero

The Mayor announced his plans to launch a South Yorkshire Citizens’ Assembly to give communities across our region the chance to shape how we respond to the climate emergency.

Supporting our high growth, green firms and economic assets, such as the Ultimate Battery Company in their recent relocation to Rotherham; and working towards deeper partnerships with Sheffield University’s Translational Energy Research Centre; and Hybrid Air Vehicles in their plans for new manufacturing facilities in Doncaster.

The MCA Board agreed the South Yorkshire Housing Framework, a new consistent approach across South Yorkshire to tackling shared challenges facing both new construction and our existing housing stock - at a time when a third of South Yorkshire’s carbon emissions comes from our housing stock.

Providing financial support for the South Yorkshire Woodland Creation Project

• as part of the Mayor’s commitment to plant 1.4 million trees, one for every person in South Yorkshire
• as part of our efforts to achieve a net zero region and to support nature recovery and biodiversity.

Tackling Health Inequalities

• In the summer, the Mayor was appointed as Chair of South Yorkshire’s Integrated Care Partnership – bringing together those who plan and deliver health and care across South Yorkshire.  The Partnership will publish its first Health Strategy for South Yorkshire shortly, fast-tracking a move towards preventative health interventions. The Mayor also formed a partnership with the Harvard Bloomberg City Leadership Initiative, to drive collaboration among providers and funders of early years support in South Yorkshire.
  
  
• This complements investment to consolidate South Yorkshire’s leadership at the cutting edge of children’s health - alongside projects like the Sheffield Hallam led Early Years Community Research Centre. Investments also include the National Centre for Child Health Technology at the Olympic Legacy Park.
  
  
• Progressing the Mayor’s manifesto commitment to host a Mayor’s Health Advisory Panel, led by Alan Walker, Professor of Social Policy and Social Gerontology at the University of Sheffield. This follows the appointment of Steven Pleasant as Advisor to the Mayor after leading Greater Manchester’s health and social care devolution work for a decade. 

The appointment of Barnsley’s Ed Clancy OBE – four-time Olympic medal winning cyclist - as South Yorkshire’s Active Travel Commissioner.  Ed has already begun a programme of engagement across South Yorkshire, championing active travel in the region.

Doing Politics Differently

• The mayor is committed to a transparent, collaborative approach to political leadership.  
  
  
• This approach informs the Citizens’ Assembly; the mayor’s community engagement around DSA; a commitment to visit each local authority’s Scrutiny Committee; and his focus on engaging the public.  He has hosted quarterly Mayor’s Question Times and hosts a monthly “Call Coppard” radio show on BBC Radio Sheffield.  
  
  
• The MCA has taken firm action to support our communities during times of crisis.  In September, the Board agreed an emergency cost of living response, bringing forward millions of pounds of hardship spending in our local authorities, complementing our UK Shared Prosperity Fund activity; introducing the £2 bus fare cap, with most of the benefit going to communities in our three most deprived areas; and funding a food security programme across South Yorkshire.