‘A decade of opportunity’ - Council leader on Rotherham’s new 10-year plan

At a launch event on Thursday (Jun 11) at Magna Science Activity Centre, the Rotherham Together Partnership outlined their 10-year plan to continue working on the regeneration of the borough.

The partnership is made up of several NHS and health, police, businesses, voluntary and community, and workforce organisations.

Regeneration schemes such as Forge Island, planned investment into the Gateway railway station, developments in the Don Valley Corridor, and the new Magna tram-train, form the foundations of the next phase of the partnership’s work, after the initial Rotherham Plan was launched in 2017.

The partnership’s aims for growth in Rotherham were explained in what is being deemed ‘the next decade of opportunity’.

• Growing a fair and thriving economy – creating new jobs and helping businesses succeed, and supporting people to gain skills and seek job opportunities.
• Unlocking the full potential of Rotherham Gateway – building a new mainline station and improvements in the Don Valley will make it easier to travel, find work and access new opportunities, for all communities, not just the areas close to the development.
• Enabling strong and proud communities – bringing more services close to home and investing in public and green spaces, allowing for a stronger sense of belonging and pride with safer streets and a supported community.
• Creating vibrant town centres – transforming the town centre into a place that people want to spend their time visiting, with new shops, cafes and more.

In the next few years, Rotherham is expected to see progress on the new mainline station, more services available in neighbourhoods, cleaner and more welcoming town centre spaces, more skills and employment help to young people, focusing on local priorities.

Some of the biggest updates have been on the future of the Rotherham Gateway train station, which will help to strengthen the Sheffield-Leeds economic corridor.

Councillor Chris Read, leader of the council, said: “This big project of course at the heart of it, the mainline train station, all the jobs and opportunities that come with that, that will be genuinely transformational for others if and when we can pull that off.

“So the plan for the train station is fire and foremost a mainline station that connects us faster to Leeds, Birmingham and other cities across the country.

“But that will be based on a business campus, so there will be opportunities for high-tech start-ups and expansion in the advanced manufacturing businesses that have done so well over the last few years, with that added connectivity alongside a new residential offer as well,” he said.

Achievements celebrated by the partnership include the opening of the new Waterfront building at Rother Valley Country Park, the installation of a canal barrier at Forge Island, and the development of the new Castle View Day Centre at Canklow.

The leader added: “We’ve come a long way over the last ten years, even as we’ve come through the global pandemic, austerity and the cost-of-living crisis.

“Now this plan sets out how we can seize the decade of opportunity in front of us, creating thousands of jobs and new opportunities in the Don Valley Corridor and beyond, in a local economy that works better for everyone; how we can secure mainline train services and all that comes with them, and build high streets and public spaces that we can be proud of. And we’ll only be able to do all that by working together.”