Doncaster city status a huge honour

The award of city status to Doncaster is a "huge honour", its mayor has said.

Doncaster is one of eight towns to be given the title in a competition as part of this year's Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

The town, with a population of about 110,000, had tried and failed three times before to attain city status.

Ros Jones, mayor of Doncaster, said it was now time for everyone in the borough to "really push forward and reach our ambitions together".

While formal Letters Patent conferring city status would be issued later this year, Ms Jones said she believed that Doncaster could start calling itself a city immediately.

She said she believed the award would be a major boost to Doncaster after several recent blows.

"If you look at the resilience of our residents and our businesses, we went through the floods of 2019, then we had the Hatfield Moors fires, then we all went through Covid.

"Our residents and businesses stepped up to the mark and showed true Yorkshire grit."

Eight towns to be made cities for Platinum Jubilee

Ms Jones said she hoped the status change would help to boost Doncaster's economic regeneration, adding: "We've always believed we act like a city, and now we're being given this huge honour."

Meanwhile, one business leader said Doncaster would now be "closer to the front of the queue arguing the toss" when it came to investment thanks to the change to city status.

Dan Fell, chief executive of Doncaster Chamber, said: "It makes us more of a magnet for inward investment. That means jobs and opportunities.

"It helps us with that liveable city - a kind of artistic, creative cultural place. It helps businesses because we become a better place to live, too, and that's helpful in attracting talent and the best people.

"It also gives the region, not just Doncaster but all of South Yorkshire, a much better seat at the table with national government making the case for levelling up, making the case for more investment in Doncaster."

Mr Fell added that the award of city status had been a long time coming and he put the town's eventual success down to the fact the bid this time "spoke about the city it was, not the city it was going to be".

Deborah Rees, director of Doncaster's Cast Theatre, said on a cultural level the award of city status was "a really important moment".

"I'm absolutely delighted. In the long term, it will be a real game-changer for Doncaster. I'm just over the moon," she said.

"Doncaster people are really proud of where they live and having that wider external recognition is really important."

Ms Rees said she believed it would mean greater cultural opportunities for the city.

"We will be able to attract more artists, more festivals and high-profile events and, in turn, that will lead to more visitors and more experiences for local residents," she said.

She added that she hoped it could also lead to Doncaster attracting more funding for such cultural events in the future.

A record number of eight places are being made cities. As well as Doncaster, Colchester and Milton Keynes in England, Bangor in Northern Ireland, Dunfermline in Scotland and Wrexham in Wales are all being similarly honoured, along with Douglas on the Isle of Man and Stanley in the Falkland Islands.

Source:  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-61506519

more great info : https://www.doncaster.gov.uk/News/doncaster-becomes-one-of-uk-s-newest-cities