Councillors pass list of Doncaster transport improvements as part of £50 million government bid

Cabinet members signed off on a list of potential schemes including local railway station improvements, extra cycle routes, congestion alleviation projects and bus lane developments.

Money will be passed from government to the Sheffield City Region from their bid for up £220 million of Transforming Cities Fund cash for South Yorkshire.

If successful, Doncaster is likely to receive between £40m and £49.4 million to improve transport links.

But councillors serving on Mayor Jones’s cabinet were keen to stress schemes were mainly limited along the ‘River Don corridor’ in order to properly qualify for funding.

Some of the more specific standout schemes include the new ‘ River Don corridor’ which will create travel routes and improved public transport from the west of the borough through the town centre, to the Unity development area at Hatfield and to Doncaster Sheffield Airport.

As well as local enhancements, they would also aim to help contribute to improving connections across the county.

Improvements to stations at Thorne North, Thorne South, Doncaster, Conisbrough and Kirk Sandall are expected to cost £.4.4 million while congestion improvements at junction 3 of the M18 has been totted up at £5.5 million.

St Mary’s roundabout improvements alleviate traffic will cost £1.2 million and £4.4 million will be spent on A630 bus improvements.

A condition of the money being received means work will have to start as soon as March 2020 with a finish date in 2023.

DMBC will have to put up 15 per cent of the Department for Transport money which, depending on the level of funding received, will be between £6 million and £7.4 million.

Sheffield City Region mayor Dan Jarvis is expected to formally submit the bid to ministers in November.

Coun Joe Blackham, cabinet member for highways at DMBC, told the meeting: “We are committed to invest in schemes which aids people getting to places across the borough and to help improve public transport, support job creation and to deliver economic growth.

“These projects will aid journey times and punctuality along with wide benefits associated with active travel.

“It’s important to say that we in Doncaster have to conform to central government funding formulas so the routes are fairly prescribed, we don’t have validity to actually determine of what work takes place and when.

“This routing system is in conjunction with the Sheffield City Region to conform to the funding formula.”