South Yorkshire: building a better future, of pride, purpose, and prosperity

If you’re from South Yorkshire, I don’t need to tell you how much we have to offer, writes Oliver Coppard, South Yorkshire’s Mayor.

But if you’re not, and many of those reading these and attending UKREiiFF may not be, I’ll spell it out: We are special.

We’re not just the place that powered the first industrial revolution. We’re not just a place of breathtaking views and vistas. We’re not just a place with world-leading musicians and cultural pioneers. We’re building a better future and delivering a bigger, better economy for our communities. We don’t just have the ambition, we have the drive and the vision – and the people and the places – to deliver our ambition.

This year, South Yorkshire’s presence at UKREiiF will be bigger than ever before, selling South Yorkshire to the world.

Right in the centre of the country, with world-leading businesses and agile tech startups, with unique partnerships across advanced manufacturing and academia, we’re driving the tech revolution.

But more importantly, we have a vision for our place, to see good health, good growth, good jobs, good housing and good transport as a given. Our creative industries are worth £2bn a year alone – and growing fast. Our vision is to be a place where our young people stay near but go far.

We’re the home of the UK’s first investment zone, and to industry leading innovation clusters in nuclear tech, hydrogen, and sustainable aviation fuels development centred on the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre.

We’re building out growth areas across South Yorkshire, offering opportunity for investors and businesses alike.

We’re leading on health technology, with initiatives like the South Yorkshire Digital Health Hub driving innovation in digital healthcare. And Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park brings together Sheffield Hallam University’s Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre with the English Institute of Sport, Canon Medical Arena and the planned National Centre for Child Health Technology into a hub for sport, health and health inequality research.

Aviation, net zero and advanced manufacturing are central to our plans for South Yorkshire Airport City, centred around a re-opened Doncaster-Sheffield Airport, which set out our 10-year plan to unlock the huge potential of Gateway East.

And, after years of neglect, we’re upgrading the infrastructure that enables growth by building an integrated transport system. We’ve taken our tram back into public control and started the process of franchising our bus network. We’re unlocking housing, employment and mixed-use development.

My job as South Yorkshire’s Mayor is good growth; building not just a bigger economy, but a better economy. But none of this is possible without investment – both public and privately funded.

We can already see the South Yorkshire we want to build taking shape. We know it will be cleaner, greener, healthier, wealthier, and happier.

We know how important it is to bring in investment, new business, and expertise, so that we can not only build a bigger and better economy, but also restore the pride, purpose, and prosperity of South Yorkshire.

I’m looking forward to welcoming you all to South Yorkshire’s pavilion at this year’s UKREiiF so you can see it for yourselves.

• Oliver Coppard is Mayor of South Yorkshire

To find out what South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority has planned during the exhibition, visit:  https://www.southyorkshire-ca.gov.uk/ukreiif