Agenda item

Report from the Executive Director of Regeneration and Environment.

Recommendations:

That Cabinet:

1. Endorse the establishment of a Don Valley Corridor programme and partnership with SYMCA and SCC.

2. Endorse the establishment of a Mayoral Development Zone for the Don Valley Corridor with delegation to the Executive Director of Regeneration & Environment, in consultation with the S151 Officer, the Monitoring Officer and the Cabinet Member for Transport, Jobs and the Local Economy to agree the governance principles and implement the preferred model.

3. Agree to: allocate £400,000 of Gainshare revenue to the resourcing of the programme and project feasibility for its first 3 years, this being subject to SYMCA’s formal approval; and  delegate to the Executive Director of Regeneration & Environment, in consultation with S151 Officer and Cabinet Member for Transport, Jobs and the Local Economy, the allocation of this £400,000 to specific activities.

Consideration was given to the report which detailed the establishment of the ‘Don Valley Corridor’ as a strategic economic growth initiative and Regeneration Programme for South Yorkshire. It set out how the Programme would be co-ordinated and how Rotherham Council would work with its partners, the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) and Sheffield City Council (SCC), to jointly resource, collaborate and use a shared framework to prioritise, deliver and monitor activity within this Regeneration Programme. 

The Don Valley Corridor (DVC) had been identified in South Yorkshire’s Local Growth Plan as a spatial priority for growth and regeneration. It was also identified as a focus for growth in the Government’s Northern Growth Strategy published on 19th March, 2026. The Corridor, as seen in Appendix 1, stretched from Sheffield City Centre through the Lower Don Valley to the Liberty Steel site at Aldwarke. Within this geography sat key regeneration priorities, including Rotherham Town Centre, Bassingthorpe and Rotherham Gateway station. The geography included some of the Borough’s most deprived Wards as well as key employment areas at Aldwarke, Templeborough and the Advanced Manufacturing Park.

This geography combined the potential for inclusive housing and employment growth, alongside established innovation assets and existing infrastructure investment. Across the entire DVC geography, investment was expected to deliver in the region of 10,500 new homes, 18,500 new jobs and an annual Gross Value Added (GVA) uplift of £1.3bn, as confirmed in the ‘Economic outputs from the development of strategic sites across the Don Valley’ report by ADE Regeneration in November 2025.

In agreeing to partner on the DVC, the Council would move into the establishment of a Mayoral Development Zone. A Mayoral Development Zone (MDZ) was a non-statutory entity. It differed from a Mayoral Development Corporation (MDC) which was a statutory entity with special powers which needed to follow a specific legal process to designate. A MDZ did not confer statutory powers, change planning authority functions, alter land ownership or governance, create new administrative bodies, predetermine future delivery vehicles, or commit the partners to statutory or other intervention. It signalled to Government and potential public and private sector partners, that the Partnership was committed to using its existing strategic economic development and regeneration powers, resources and relationship to progress this Programme.

Commitment to this Partnership and the scale of this Programme required resourcing to co-ordinate activity across the geography and develop co-investment proposals. SYMCA would provide a core central co-ordinating team to drive strategic programme development across the Don Valley Corridor as a whole and would deliver any SYMCA-led projects or assist scheme delivery as required. The proposed model would see the establishment of a Don Valley Programme Board for co-ordination of cross border activities. This Board would report into SYMCA’s Board and Investment Board as required.

Together the Partnership would create a comprehensive funding and delivery strategy by summer 2026. Behind this was the development of a co-investment model which would see local commitment of Gainshare in order to leverage in regional, national and private investment. Gainshare was funding provided by SYMCA which originated as part of the devolution deal with Central Government. Each Local Authority in South Yorkshire had been allocated an amount per year for 30 years, starting in 2020/21. Both Rotherham and Sheffield Councils would look to utilise some Gainshare funding to develop the Don Valley Corridor and thoughts on this would be developed as part of the funding strategy referred to in paragraph 2.5.1. Any specific propositions for the use of Gainshare funding would be subject to future Cabinet approval. Each Authority would commit £400,000 of its Gainshare revenue allocation toward Programme resourcing and feasibility work for priority projects for the first 3 years of the Programme.

Resolved:

That Cabinet:

1.    Endorse the establishment of a Don Valley Corridor Programme and Partnership with SYMCA and SCC. 

2.    Endorse the establishment of a Mayoral Development Zone for the Don Valley Corridor with delegation to the Executive Director of Regeneration and Environment, in consultation with the S151 Officer, the Monitoring Officer and the Cabinet Member for Transport, Jobs and the Local Economy to agree the governance principles and implement the preferred model.

3.    Agree to: allocate £400,000 of Gainshare revenue to the resourcing of the Programme and project feasibility for its first 3 years, this being subject to SYMCA’s formal approval; and delegate to the Executive Director of Regeneration and Environment, in consultation with S151 Officer and Cabinet Member for Transport, Jobs and the Local Economy, the allocation of this £400,000 to specific activities.