Caroline Flint: How our town learned to believe the sky's the limit

As the noughties approached, the last of the collieries were hanging on; the future of rail in the town appeared uncertain; tourism hinged around the annual St Leger festival; and the former Finningley RAF base’s future was being contested. Like much of Yorkshire, Doncaster’s past was slipping away, but the future wasn’t quite within reach.

Twenty years on, I live in a borough with a new optimism, led by Mayor Ros Jones. Industrial parks, like the iPort on the M18, are generating new jobs. The Hitachi Train Maintenance Centre is leading a rail resurgence; and the first apprentices are enrolled at the new National College for High Speed Rail, preparing for High Speed 2. Doncaster’s Cast theatre is part of a cultural renaissance. The town hosts the Tour de Yorkshire each year; Doncaster Racecourse has a new hotel development and the Yorkshire Wildlife Park is now the fastest growing tourist attraction in the North.

At the heart of the town’s renewed optimism is Doncaster Sheffield Airport. When I was first elected in 1997, an airport seemed a long way off. I recall an adviser in Number Ten saying: “An airport in Doncaster? They’ve got Manchester airport haven’t they?”

How wrong he was. Doncaster and Yorkshire’s future lies in connectivity. As towns and cities grow, connecting people to jobs, culture, shopping and visitor attractions, is crucial. Doncaster borough, surrounded by major trunk roads, also lies on the East Coast main line, soon to have Super Express trains reaching 140mph. The Humber ports are an hour away.

It took six years to see a redundant RAF base become the first UK airport to open since Stansted in the 1970s. Now serving 45 destinations, it supports 100 businesses and 1,000 jobs at its Aero Centre Yorkshire business park. It is proof that airports act as magnets for economic activity. The airport attracts inward investment, and anchors one end of an innovation corridor stretching to Sheffield city centre, embracing the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District. With the construction of the Great Yorkshire Way, over six million people live within an hour’s drive of Doncaster Sheffield Airport; and journey times to Sheffield have been cut to 25 minutes.

The ambition doesn’t end there. Yorkshire has been hindered by poor connectivity. The North looks enviously at London, with its amazing public transport and the £14.8 billion Crossrail project, complete with 26 miles of tunnelling under the capital.

Now we are making demands of our own for new infrastructure. As a co-chair of the Northern Powerhouse All Party Group, I’m part of a coalition of MPs and civic leaders championing HS3 – a high speed Liverpool to Hull rail service we want built in parallel with HS2.

For Yorkshire to punch its weight, 
to keep up with the South East, we 
need to see crucial infrastructure projects delivered. Part of that vision includes a new station on the East Coast main line, in walking distance of the Doncaster Sheffield airport terminal; putting eight million people within 90 minutes by public transport. The ambition must be a trouble-free connection for passengers from train to plane with minimum disruption. An airport station will also support a growing commuter population and visitors to our wildlife park.

We need the Government to get behind Yorkshire’s big ideas. The Advanced Manufacturing Park in Sheffield, the Sheffield Retail Quarter development; the Leeds South Bank regeneration – set to double the size of its city centre; Hull’s Albion Street renewal; and Doncaster’s Airport and iPort – set to create 5,000 new jobs.

None of these projects would be underway without long term vision. Ideas turned into investment; into infrastructure; into jobs and homes. Every Yorkshire town and city has been on its own journey and The Yorkshire Post has championed this rebirth.

In Doncaster’s case, the renaissance under way today in culture, tourism, the economy and transport, probably started with a piece of disused tarmac.

The longest runway outside of the South East which, with new infrastructure, could support 25 million passengers and 250,000 tonnes of cargo each year.

It took vision to see that tarmac become the economic driving force it is today. To overcome the scepticism. To give Doncaster self-belief again.

I Iook back with satisfaction at how much has been accomplished and at the determination to achieve more.

We are seeing not only a resurgent South Yorkshire, but a new determination across Yorkshire and the North. Our best days are in front of us. Let’s make it happen.