Exclusive interview: Doncaster mayor is “yet to see true levelling up”

Doncaster Mayor Ros Jones has expressed her disappointment following the announcement that levelling up funding bids for Doncaster North and Edlington have been rejected.

Every town and city in South Yorkshire submitted a bid but only one was taken forward, in Barnsley.

Mayor Ros said: “I’m greatly disappointed at the result, I believe they were both very strong cases, and we were quite hopeful.

“It’s been proven however that the North did not do as favourably this time around.

“I’ve yet to see true levelling up from the government.”

She discussed how the levelling up agenda may not be as promising as it seems, given that it replaced the existing ERDP fund which is no longer available due to Brexit.

In the first round of funding, Doncaster was awarded £18.6 million to improve retail in the city centre.

The mayor continued to highlight that no area which won the first round of funding won anything during the second.

She suggested that councils could have been informed if this was a rule before putting time and resources into bids.

In lieu of levelling up funding, Doncaster Council will begin to look for other ways to carry out regeneration projects in the areas of Doncaster North and Edlington.

Part of the former is a plan to regenerate Mexborough town centre; some funding has already been secured by the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) for this project.