Doncaster Chamber welcomes city status and the range of economic, reputational and political benefits it will bring to the entire region

Earlier this year, Doncaster Chamber put its weight behind the city status bid and chief executive has this to stay about he news today.“Alongside 38 other localities in the UK, our borough entered a national competition that was being run for the 2022 Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

"This entailed a lot of hard work from ourselves, Doncaster Council and various other partners – including a number of the Borough’s young people – all of whom pulled together to make a compelling case for why our town deserved the civic honour.“For this, we created a detailed local profile, evidencing Doncaster’s unique identity, its interesting heritage, its vibrant culture, its associations with royalty, and its thriving business community. We also demonstrated just how much Doncaster contributes to UK PLC and how we can be a great partner to Government in achieving its ‘levelling up’ agenda.“I am delighted to confirm that all of this effort has paid off, as Doncaster is officially being granted City Status. This will bring a range of economic, reputational and political benefits for the entire region.“For one thing, South Yorkshire (which will now be home to two cities) will get a bigger seat at the national table when it comes to engaging government. With this enhanced platform, we will be in a better position than ever before to drive the levelling up agenda, to hold policy-makers to account and to fight for your interests.“What’s more, the addition of another city in South Yorkshire will help bring more inward investment to the region and will attract more skilled workers.“Now more so than ever, and despite the economic challenges presently facing all of us in business, I am feeling really optimistic about the future of Doncaster and am looking forward to what the next few years have in store.”

He continued: “We have really come a long way over the past decade, and that is down, in no small part, to the determined spirit of our ambitious business community. Team Doncaster may have played a role in facilitating the conditions for economic growth, but it is Doncaster’s business communities that have delivered it.“Speaking of which, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to everyone who got behind this bid and joined us in making noise about it. Every single contribution — whether it was a case of direct lobbying, a video message, or just sharing a quick tweet —made a difference here and helped us to get the bid over the line. Your input has been invaluable and we could not have done it without you.“I would also like to highlight the brilliant role played in the campaign by Doncaster's young people and school children. You can see a wonderful video about why Doncaster deserves to be a city produced by Kingfisher Primary School here.“The next few years are going to be a truly invigorating time for Doncaster, as we start to think about how we can capitalise on this success.

“On that note, our flagship business conference, “Doncaster, What’s Next?” could not be happening at a more opportune moment. Taking place next Thursday (May 26), I am really looking forward to the exciting discussions that we will be having with business leaders and politicians here about what city status will mean for our region and how we can use it to our advantage.”

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