Mayor calls for more than just “piecemeal funding”

Dan Jarvis

Sheffield City Region Mayor, Dan Jarvis has called on the Government to back the region’s Renewal Action plan in full, after describing the additional £33m secured through the Getting Building Funding as “piecemeal” support.

In total Yorkshire and the Humber will receive more than £114m of funding through this new initiative which is designed to support “shovel ready” infrastructure projects.

The funding is split between the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, Sheffield City Region Combined Authority, the York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership and the Humber Local Enterprise Partnership, with each receiving £52.6m, £33m, £15.4m and £13.4m respectively

However tonight, Jarvis, a former parachute regiment officer said that despite being pleased with the funding which “will help our effort to make South Yorkshire stronger, greener and fairer as we build back from COVID”, he’d prefer “the Government to fully back our Renewal Action Plan.”

The plan which was initially announced last month, Jarvis continued, will ensure “South Yorkshire stands ready to deliver not just recovery, but a renewal that tackles some of the deepest challenges facing our economy and society.”

Adding: “Our bold £1.7 billion proposal would support over 55,000 training and job opportunities, back 25,000 businesses and create 3,000 apprenticeships – while getting us further down the path to net zero carbon, making our industry more innovative and productive, and transforming our infrastructure. If the government are serious about ‘levelling-up’ the country and investing in the Northern Powerhouse, then they need to devolve the powers and invest the resources needed to get the job done. There is no better time to do that than now.”

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