‘LEVELLING UP – A TRAGEDY’ SAYS OLIVER COPPARD AS HE MARKS 100 DAYS AS SOUTH YORKSHIRE’S MAYOR

Published 16 August 2022 at 2:42pm

South Yorkshire’s Mayor Oliver Coppard marks his first 100 days in the role this week, reflecting on the opportunities and the obstacles of devolution and its role in building a better future for regions like South Yorkshire.

In a speech today he will say: “Our communities demand and deserve political leadership. And when the government in London are so negligent, so absent, local leadership becomes even more necessary, and comes even more sharply into focus. Proper devolution should be a partnership, not a rigged game of poker in which South Yorkshire is pitted against other regions.”

The Mayor’s first two months in office have seen the owners of Doncaster Sheffield Airport cast its future into doubt, and the region’s buses facing the biggest cuts for a generation. In his speech, Oliver Coppard will argue the crises facing transport in South Yorkshire and across the North reflect a failure of the government’s flagship Levelling Up agenda.

He will say: “Rather than a sensible, grown-up conversation about the needs of our community, we are forced into competing with other, equally deserving parts of our country for pots of money that are too small to begin with. You can’t level-up through competition.
“The stark contrast between the government’s levelling-up rhetoric and the reality across our communities is stark. This Tory government are seemingly intent on doing little more than gaslighting us…
“That is the real tragedy of Levelling Up. It’s clear no one in South Yorkshire simply wants a handout from government. We want nothing less than to stand on our own two feet – to play a full part in the future of a country that offers equal opportunity to all our communities.”

In South Yorkshire, almost 1 in 5 households are in fuel poverty – meaning they already struggle to afford to heat or run their home. With energy prices set to increase by thousands of pounds in October, many people across South Yorkshire are living scared of what the near future will bring. Speaking later today, Oliver Coppard will accuse the government of negligence,

He will say: “This government offers us little hope and fewer ideas for making life better here, in South Yorkshire, or addressing the most urgent needs of our communities… The economic headwinds we are now facing may be a temporary storm or a fundamental change in the weather… We are more exposed than most to the downsides of the UK’s current economic model, and the success of our region relies more than I would like on choices made in London.”

The Mayor will also highlight the inspirational people he’s met across the region during his first 100 days in office. He will praise the resilience of South Yorkshire’s communities and outline his determination to build a brighter future for the region.

He will say: “Over the last 100 days I have been lucky enough to see first-hand the pride and passion of those people in our region committed to living their life by the motto of South Yorkshire – each shall strive for the welfare of all – their absolute determination to protect and serve our communities...
For at least forty years South Yorkshire has been battered and bruised, our confidence chipped away…
South Yorkshire has made its mark before, we powered the industrial revolution and created materials that changed the world. No ambition should be beyond us.”

In his first 100 days as South Yorkshire’s Mayor Oliver Coppard has:

• Protected school buses from cuts after bus companies pulled out of running them.
• Taken steps to speed up the process of assessing whether South Yorkshire can take buses into public control.
• Extended the Zoom Beyond pass to keep bus and tram journeys at just 80p for all 21-year-olds and under.
• Launched a consultation process to ask communities to help shape how public money is used to support buses and protect routes at risk from cuts.
• Set up working groups and held public meetings to safeguard the future of Doncaster Sheffield Airport.
• Begun building a Citizen’s Assembly for the Climate Crisis, bringing together a group of people from across the region to put the voice of the community at the heart of the decisions needed to achieve our target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2040.
• Held the first Mayor’s Question Time and hosted regular phone-ins on BBC Radio Sheffield, underlining Oliver’s ambition to be the most transparent and accessible mayor.
• Started the search for a new Active Travel Commissioner for South Yorkshire, a role central to Oliver’s vision for a better connected, healthier and more sustainable South Yorkshire.
• Begun work establishing a Better Business Challenge to recognise and reward South Yorkshire’s best employers, those who have plans to meet the challenge of the climate crisis and pay their staff a real living wage.
• Commissioned a Healthy Life Expectancy panel with the University of Sheffield to help everyone across South Yorkshire live long and healthy lives.