South Yorkshire Mayor proud he ‘hit the ground running’ in first 100 days in office

The mayor, who was elected in May, held an event at the Millennium Gallery, Sheffield to mark the milestone.

He told his audience: “There are a couple of challenges coming our way – buses, the airport, wildfires… plague of locusts!

“Being mayor of the place I call home is the greatest honour of my life.”

He said some of his achievements were accelerating bus franchising, starting the search for a new active travel commissioner and instituting the first mayor’s question time, open to members of the public.

He said he has also started looking at health inequalities and is setting up a South Yorkshire climate assembly.

“My ambitions for South Yorkshire are more optimistic than day one, just far beyond what anyone could accomplish in 100 days,” he said.

He said that was because, despite being “battered and bruised” by decisions taken 200 miles away in London and some self-inflicted wounds, the creativity of the people of South Yorkshire meant no ambition should be beyond the region if a shared vision for the future could be put in place.

He pledged: “I will work tirelessly to make South Yorkshire the place it once was and will be again.”

‘Life expectancy in poorest areas is 20 years less’

During a Q&A session, he spoke about health inequalities and the fact that life expectancy in the poorest areas is 20 years less than in others.

He said he will be working with Alan Walker, who is Professor of Social Policy and Social Gerontology at the University of Sheffield, on policies to tackle the issues.

In response to a question about the nature emergency from Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust chief executive Liz Ballard, he said: “What has happened to our environment in the past few weeks has scared me – droughts, wildfires and the effect of climate change on the natural environment.”

He said that applications have been opened up for the climate assembly. It will look at the changes that need to be made to people’s lives in order to work towards a goal of net zero carbon emissions in the region by 2040.

He said that changes need to be made “not for people but with people”, so it will be a citizens’ assembly.

Other issues under discussion were the future of public transport, including the impending cuts to bus services and the threat to the future of Doncaster Sheffield Airport, problems faced by rural communities and the need for the right job skills to push the local economy forward.

The mayor said he had been working with bus operators to make sure that routes run by Powell’s, who ceased operations suddenly in early August, could be covered by other operators.

He confirmed that he had also looked at using his powers to take over Powell’s and run it from the mayoral authority but there were practical difficulties involved.

He has also been holding talks with airport operator Peel.

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