Latest news with #Donnygate
BBC News
30-04-2025
- Business
- BBC News
The issues facing Doncaster as city prepares for mayoral election
I'd just pressed record – to film a shot of Doncaster Markets – when I spotted that the "Doncaster" sign actually said "O CASTER".Somewhere along the line DN had lost its D and N – and for people living within that postcode, Thursday will mark a chance for them to deliver their own letter; an X next to the name of the person they want to be the new what will the new mayor have to do?Their brief ranges from the big decisions that are getting all the attention and the other big decisions that don't get as much coverage. Often a big shiny thing dominates an election campaign and as I write this I am looking at sun is bouncing off the terminal at Doncaster Sheffield Airport, catching the wave design on its roof. There is no need to fly anywhere today. Finningley is warmer than Fuerteventura – but of course you can't go anywhere from here modular terminal opened in 2005 with room and plans for more of them either side if things went well. Seventeen years later, the site is quiet. Peel closed the airport in 2022 and said it wasn't viable anymore. 800 jobs were lost, and that's just the ones directly at the the booklets sent out to all voters here, not one of the 12 candidates comes out as against the airport's planned is a huge decision and potentially a huge gamble. £100m of public money has been put up to try and get flights out of here again. The promise of jobs is also up against environmental concerns about opening a new a plan that will be decided on in the summer – a big moment for a the airport is easier to talk about because it's such a big thing. It would be a tangible success story for a mayor to reopen – but it would also be a key point of scrutiny for them. Are the public getting value for money?Some of the other issues a mayor needs to address are arguably bigger – but perhaps are harder to quantify and sell to the public. 20% of people in Doncaster don't have any qualifications, the second highest rate in the might make you think education would be big topic for candidates, but there are scant mentions of it in their are lower here and there are more people out of work than on average. There are issues to sort out like there are in any northern city, but it doesn't feel like the candidates are talking about it much, if at all.I was at Radio Sheffield's debate last week. Of the seven candidates invited only three turned feels like there has been low engagement so far from candidates. What will that means for voters where turnout has not broken past 30% in the last two polls?Having a mayor in Doncaster was part experiment, part solution. Directly elected mayors were a Labour idea, faster decisions made by one person rather than by committee. Worries about too much power in one person's hands were assuaged by the bruising the town took during Donnygate, a scandal in which 20 former councillors were found guilty of expenses a mayor was meant to draw a line under that but it didn't stop the council making of fallings out between mayors, councillors and chief executives were overshadowed by a failing of the town's children's services. Seven deaths of vulnerable children saw the government step in to run the council. Three of the cases found that social workers had missed chances to has had a mayor in charge of its council for 23 years. It's now a city that has three mayors; civic, city and South places that went with the idea of directly elected mayors two decades ago have ditched it over the last few will elect another one on Thursday and whatever they focus on, it is an enormous job. Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
The Guardian
18-04-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Ken Burley obituary
My friend Ken Burley, who has died aged 80, was a town planner with a public service ethos. A member of the Royal Town Planning Institute, he worked professionally in local authorities and voluntarily in numerous capacities. From 1974 to 2004 he worked for Doncaster metropolitan borough council, progressing from assistant chief planner for development plans and research to retire as head of planning services and acting head of strategic development. His work helped steer the borough through significant land use and social changes as the local economy pivoted from coal mining towards alternatives. Ken led the team that wrote the borough's unitary development plan, creating strategic and local planning policies. He also led the council's initial planning work to develop Doncaster Sheffield international airport from the former RAF Finningley. Coalfield regeneration and regional planning were significant interests. He recognised the economic and social benefits of quality design and environments. His quiet courage, persistence and integrity, particularly when supporting policy, won respect. In 1995, supported by a few colleagues and people outside the council, he took the difficult decision to become an internal 'whistleblower', having become concerned at irregularities in some of the decisions made by the planning committee. This helped expose corruption in a case known as part of 'Donnygate'. A police investigation resulted in two successful crown court trials in which Ken was the senior planning witness. They concluded in 2002. He wrote an account for the journal Planning Theory & Practice, summarising measures to improve probity in planning. Born in Sheffield, Ken was the second son of Betty (nee Hartley) and Douglas, who ran a newsagent's shop. He attended High Storrs grammar school, then gained a degree in economics from the University of Sheffield and a postgraduate diploma in town planning from Leeds College of Art. A progression of posts at Sheffield city council (1966-71) and Walsall County borough council (1971-74) provided experience in strategic planning and development control before he moved to Doncaster. After leaving Doncaster he worked freelance for Hambleton district council, in North Yorkshire, and private clients. Ken's decades of voluntary work for the Royal Town Planning Institute at national and regional level included many years chairing its Yorkshire region's branch committee, planning aid committee and European network. In 2014 he received an RTPI outstanding service award. Other voluntary interests included South Yorkshire Buildings Preservation Trust, the Yorkshire branch of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation, and Friends of Cusworth Park. He spoke fluent German, and visited Germany, supporting planning students, town planners and town twinning. He was a committed group Scout leader and Sunday school superintendent, and with his wife, Chris, was an active Methodist. Married in 1966, they had two children and fostered 13, two of whom remained as family. They were stalwart supporters of the local community, young people and anyone alone or in need. Ken is survived by Chris, their children and eight grandchildren, and his brother and sister.
