'Why Don Valley is one of North's most important growth corridors'
A new development zone in the Don Valley will create one of the most important growth corridors in the North of England, South Yorkshire’s Mayor Oliver Coppard told a gathering of national business leaders.
Mr Coppard highlighted the national significance of plans for South Yorkshire’s new Don Valley Corridor, which supporters predict will help to create 18,500 jobs and more than 10,500 homes, when he addressed the UK’s Real Estate Investment & Infrastructure Forum in Leeds. Mr Coppard delivered the keynote speech at a “South Yorkshire showcase” which highlighted how strategic development is creating opportunity. In his speech, Mr Coppard warned that the link between people and power has weakened, and “decisions feel distant, systems feel fragmented”.
He added: "Too often people experience public services, infrastructure and investment as things done to them rather than with them. People feel that when the bus doesn’t turn up, when regeneration is promised but never reaches their own street, when decisions about their lives are taken somewhere else by people they don’t know and will never meet; that loss of connection doesn’t just frustrate people in the moment, it chips away at confidence at whether growth and benefits will ever reach them.
"That’s why our growth plan is about a stronger economy, but also a fairer one. For me, that means taking responsibility, making sure that people can see change on their street where they live, because if people are going to believe in growth again it has to be visible.”
“People want responsibility to be clear; they want decisions to be owned. They want to know that someone is prepared to front it up. That’s what my job is.”
He said the thread running through the local growth plan was “stronger growth in stronger places with more people able to share in it”.
"Growth sticks when it’s built into places, backed by institutions and shared by the people who live there. That’s the kind of growth we’re determined to deliver in South Yorkshire.”
"We’re moving in the sectors that will shape, not just the UK economy, but the global economy; advanced manufacturing, clean energy, defence, health innovation, culture and tech.
"The message I think is getting through. South Yorkshire is a place to invest to innovate and to grow. You can see it in the investments that are landing right now.
“I’m delighted that we’ve announced a new mayoral development zone across the Don Valley corridor, which is a huge step, bringing jobs homes, infrastructure together in one of the most important growth corridors across the whole of the north.
"It’s where advanced manufacturing, clean energy, logistics and defence come together; it tells something important about South Yorkshire. We’re building where and what Britain needs to grow.”
He added: "We’re growing with purpose, growth that recognises prosperity has to be shared. Growth has to be connected to people, which is why transport sits at the heart of our plans.”