• Quick Links
• 2010 Policy Manifesto
• Focus Groups
• Doncaster Borough Strategy

• Related Information
• About Policy
• Policy News
• Policy Manifesto
• Doncaster Economic Review
• Focus Groups
• Have Your Say
• Doncaster: An Enterprising Town
• Publications
• Housing
• Immigration
• Chamber Challenge
• Gateway to the Sheffield City Region

Home -> Policy -> Policy Manifesto

Policy Manifesto

Each year Doncaster Chamber of Commerce produces a Policy Manifesto to highlight the issues currently challenging Doncaster’s businesses and ways in which those challenges can be overcome.  Similarly, the document seeks to identify opportunities for the Borough and ways in which they can be maximised.

It is the Chamber’s view that few towns can match Doncaster in terms of its pace of change over the last decade following the delivery of key transformational projects such as Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield, Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster Racecourse, The Hub, and Frenchgate.  There are more exciting projects on the way, such as the Civic and Cultural Quarter, Inland Port and more besides.  However, there are still significant challenges for Doncaster. The town has a productivity gap of some £830m; essentially this means that Doncaster adds £830m less value to the economy each year than it should for a town of its size. If nothing is done to address this, it is estimated that the town will not close this gap for 301 years. Doncaster is currently ranked 31st most deprived out 345 Boroughs in terms of socio-economic deprivation and has a number of challenges relating to crime, education, health, housing, and transport, that must be met if Doncaster is to become truly open for business.

The Chamber believes that Doncaster’s businesses are ready for the challenge; however they need help and support from partners to create the conditions necessary for them to build a Profitable, Productive Doncaster. The Chamber takes a holistic view of the Borough and works with a number of stakeholders and colleagues, including the Mayor of Doncaster, Doncaster MBC, NHS Doncaster and Doncaster College to drive change in Doncaster. This Policy Manifesto is intended to help those partners understand what local businesses want and need in order to close Doncaster’s productivity gap and to deliver the town’s Borough Strategy for the benefit of businesses and communities alike. Our local priorities are summarised below:

Business Infrastructure
1. Delivering the Finningley and Rossington Regeneration Route Scheme and connecting Robin Hood Airport to the M18.
2. For government to prioritise short term investment in the East Coast mainline and securing a competitive private sector franchisee that can ensure Doncaster’s key position on the rail network.
3. Maximising the competitive edge that will be given to Doncaster by the Digital Region.

Business Climate
4. Securing support for the Chamber’s Buy Doncaster campaign and improving access to public sector procurement opportunities.
5. Ensuring that business support is relevant, joined up, and easily accessible for all Doncaster businesses.
6. Improving the health of Doncaster’s communities and reducing the £154m lost to Doncaster’s economy each year through staff absence.

Business Skills
7. Working with Doncaster College, the Borough’s secondary schools and other key partners to ensure that learners have the skills required by the town’s businesses.
8. Improving the graduate return rate to Doncaster and increasing the number of people living and working in Doncaster with higher level skills.
9. Enhancing the quality of careers advice given to young people.

Business Opportunity
10. Promoting a brand for Doncaster that will demonstrate to indigenous businesses, residents and inward investors that Doncaster is a great place to do business.
11. Making more Doncaster businesses aware of global opportunities and driving up the number of exporters in Doncaster through a comprehensive Export Strategy.
12. Driving the sustainable business agenda and delivering a renewable energy sector in Doncaster.

The content of the Manifesto is shaped through ongoing discussions with Chamber members in the Chamber’s Focus Groups and informed by the various research projects undertaken by the Chamber each year.  For more information about how to get involved in shaping the Chamber’s policy position, and to see what issues are currently being flagged by other local businesses, please visit the Focus Groups page of our website.

The Policy Manifesto is the Chamber’s annual flagship policy publication and forms the framework for the Chamber’s representation and lobbying work for the remainder of the year. To view a copy of the 2010 Policy Manifesto click here.

If you would like to discuss the Chamber’s 2010 Policy Manifesto please contact:
Dan Fell
Head of Policy
T: 01302 640113
E: dfell@doncaster-chamber.co.uk