Along with South Yorkshire council leaders and local MPs, Mayor Dan Jarvis has written to Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, to demand that South Yorkshire get its fair share of regional funding for regeneration and economic growth.
Recent analysis has shown the funding would equate to more than £900m in investment in South Yorkshire over seven years.
The intervention comes after the government committed to match former EU funding for Cornwall, but not other English regions with similar rates of deprivation, including South Yorkshire.
Mayor Dan Jarvis said: “I am not asking for special treatment for South Yorkshire, just that we get our fair share.
“From next year, South Yorkshire would have got hundreds of millions of pounds more from EU funding, had that still been in place. The Prime Minister promised places like South Yorkshire would not lose out after Brexit. We are asking him to keep his word.
“We have plans to build a stronger, greener and fairer economy, and we have proven we can deliver – we just need the right tools to do the job. The government should extend its commitment to funding all regions who now meet the criteria for increased funding, including South Yorkshire.”
After Brexit, the government committed to match EU funds for less developed communities through its UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF). Cornwall is due to receive this funding in recognition of its rates of deprivation, but it’s emerged a number of other regions, including South Yorkshire, should qualify.
The Autumn Statement stated that: “The Budget and Spending Review reaffirms that total funding through the UKSPF will at a minimum match the size of EU Funds in each nation and in Cornwall, each year.”
As the only area of England to have been defined as a ‘less developed region’ in the 2014-2020 ESIF programme, Cornwall had a GDP per head below 75% of the EU average.
However, research by the Industrial Communities Alliance (ICA) illustrates that after 2020, Tees Valley and Durham, South Yorkshire, and Lincolnshire all now fall below this threshold, with South Yorkshire’s GDP per head (70.3% of the UK average) being lower than Cornwall’s (70.9%).
