Doncaster to benefit from £1 million to ease congestion on town centre roads and roundabout

Doncaster is set to be benefit from over £1 million to improve roads and ease congestion.
St Mary's roundabout close to Doncaster town centre is set to benefit from the Sheffield City Region fundingSt Mary's roundabout close to Doncaster town centre is set to benefit from the Sheffield City Region funding
St Mary's roundabout close to Doncaster town centre is set to benefit from the Sheffield City Region funding

Doncaster to benefit from £1 million to ease congestion on town centre roads and roundabout

Doncaster is set to be benefit from over £1 million to improve roads and ease congestion.

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The local authority has received £1.3 million from the Sheffield City Region Combined Authority, which comprises of representatives on all four South Yorkshire councils.

The cash for Doncaster is being spent on the urban centre master plan and will be used for congestion reduction and improvement measures on St Mary’s roundabout as well as accessibility and traffic flow improvements in the town centre.

Rotherham is also set for around £1.1 million and Barnsley £1 million to improve road schemes in the respected towns.

But Sheffield is to receive nothing due to a ‘large discrepancy in the amount of borrowing being invested in the Supertram network’ and the amount of borrowing being used to support projects in the other three districts, SCR CA officers said.

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The funds are to be split on a 'per-capita' basis and is based on the amount of people living in each borough.

Sheffield Council leader Julie Dore hit back at the move and said the Supertram network is ‘not only used by residents of Sheffield’.

Coun Dore added she was ‘profoundly disappointed’ the city was to miss out on the funding and the decision came as ‘surprise’. She was out-voted by Doncaster mayor Ros Jones and leaders of Barnsley and Rotherham councils Sir Steve Houghton and Chris Read.

This is the latest rift in the county as issues such as devolution, HS2 and paying for the Supertram have all caused tensions across different local authorities.

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Coun Dore said there was a consensus to make savings on the joint transport levy paid by all four South Yorkshire councils but at the same time, put some money aside for the transport capital pot.

“The recommendation came as a surprise to me. I’m profoundly disappointed in the outcome.”

Minutes from the meeting show Coun Dore ‘questioned the rationale’ of the pot and asked why, as a South Yorkshire badged initiative, it is only available to three of the four districts.