‘Having city status will grow our economy and give us a bigger voice’ says Doncaster mayor Ros Jones

Mayor Ros Jones has said securing city status for Doncaster will grow the economy similar to other former towns who were granted the honour.
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Doncaster was chosen along with seven other towns for city status as part of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

Despite the accolade not bringing any further investment or special dispensation in the short term, city status is seen as a big boost to prestige and other areas awarded the honour have seen an increase in economic growth over a certain period of time.

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Mayor Jones referenced Perth in Scotland and she the city of 10 years has seen economic growth of around 12 per cent in that time.

Mayor Ros Jones speaking after Doncaster was awarded city status as part of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. Credit: George Torr/LDRSMayor Ros Jones speaking after Doncaster was awarded city status as part of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. Credit: George Torr/LDRS
Mayor Ros Jones speaking after Doncaster was awarded city status as part of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. Credit: George Torr/LDRS

Other recipients of city status include Milton Keynes, Wrexham, Dunfermline, Bangor (NI), Colchester, Douglas on the Isle of Man and Stanley in the Falkland Islands.

Each new city will receive the award formally through a Letters Patent, which will be presented later in the year.

Mayor Jones, addressing a meeting of the full council, said being a city will help ‘boost the profile of Doncaster from attracting new business, underlining Doncaster as a tourist destination and upping the area’s role on the national stage’.

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Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service after the meeting, Mayor Jones said: “It’s fantastic news for our borough, for our residents and for our businesses.

“It will help the economic growth of our town and if we actually mirror what Perth in Scotland did 10 years ago, they actually grew their borough by 12 per cent in terms of economic development.

“It’s a great accolade that we’ve got now for the Queen’s Jubilee and people will also remember this.

“A big thanks has got to go to Dan Fell who chaired this and everybody who backed it such as our young people, residents and our businesses – every sector in the borough.

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“South Yorkshire should now have a bigger voice and we will work collectively together to push for levelling up. What we want now is to get behind Great British Railways coming to Doncaster with their offices.

“What this will now do is bring inward investment, better jobs and our tourism will increase and other things will increase as well – it’s about the economic opportunities to match our ambitions.”