Voters prepare to choose town's mayor

VOTERS in Doncaster go to the polls to elect their mayor tomorrow as Labour incumbent Ros Jones seeks a second term in office.
Doncaster voters go to the polls tomorrowDoncaster voters go to the polls tomorrow
Doncaster voters go to the polls tomorrow

Mrs Jones is being challenged by five other candidates with HS2, council spending and fdghf among the major issues to have featured in the campaign.

Doncaster is the only council in the region with a directly-elected mayor.

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In common with other councils across Yorkshire, Doncaster has seen major falls in the funding it receives from the Government in recent years forcing the authority to make tough deci.

Mrs Jones said: “[The cuts] are not of our making and we’ll have 50 per cent less money now than we had in 2010.

“However there is no point in moaning about it and therefore we are prudently managing our budget to minimise the impact of these really austere government cuts on our frontline services.”

She pointed to the rolling out of ‘smartlights’ across Doncaster as a way the district is using technology to save money and the Great Yorkshire Way and securing the national HS2 college as an example of her efforts to improve the town’s economy.

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The authority has been criticised for spending £20m on consultancy fees.

She said: “I don’t apologise for that. We’re spending this money on primarily more jobs, more growth, major infrastructure schemes where it requires specialist people that you only require for a short period of time.”

Ms Jones’s predecessor, English Democrat and then later independent Peter Davies, sprung a surprise when he elected not to run.

The decision Mr Davies’s supporters take over who to back this week could go a long way to deciding the outcome of the election.

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The Conservatives are hoping the absence of Mr Davies will help the chances if their candidate, Syrian-born investment banker George Jabbour.

Mr Jabbour, who has previously run for the Conservatives in Scotland and Wales, said: “I want to stand in Doncaster because I would like to use my business background, my skills and engineering and investment experience to serve the people of Doncaster to create more jobs and increase investment, attract businesses and explore the opportunities Brexit offers.”

He claimed the attitude towards the Conservatives in the Labour-stronghold was changing following the town’s overwhelming backing for Leave in last year’s EU referendum.

Mr Jabbour added: “There is a huge inefficiency in managing public money and unfortunately it’s not translating into results for the people of Doncaster.”

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Ukip candidate Brian Whitmore is also hoping to capitalise on the absence of Mr Davies.

His policies include opposing the HS2 high speed line through the district..

He said: “Theresa May announced not so long ago we need to build 100,000 houses a year. My answer to that is ‘Why? So you can knock them down again like they are on the Shimmer Estate.

“Brand new houses, they haven;t been finished, some of them, yet and they are not going to be liveable because they are going to be flattened.”

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The complete list of candidates in the mayoral election is George Jabbour (Conservative), Ros Jones (Labour), Eddie Todd (Independent), Brian Whitmore (Ukip), Chris Whitwood (Yorkshire), Steve Williams (TUSC).

Voters in Doncaster will also choose the make-up of the council with every seat up for election.