Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster

Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster
—  Metropolitan borough  —
Doncaster
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	Yorkshire and the Humber
Ceremonial county	South Yorkshire
Founded
Admin. HQ	Doncaster
Government
– Type	Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council
– Leadership:	Mayor and Cabinet
– Executive:	English Democrat Mayor / Conservative, Liberal Democrat, Independent Executive
– Mayor	Peter Davies (English Democrats)
– MPs:	Caroline Flint, Ed Miliband, Rosie Winterton
Area
– Total	219.3 sq mi (568.0 km2)
Area rank	81st
Population (2010 est.)
– Total	290,600
– Rank	Ranked 31st
– Density	1,325.1/sq mi (511.6/km2)
Time zone	Greenwich Mean Time (UTC+0)
– Summer (DST)	British Summer Time (UTC+1)
Postcode
ISO 3166-2
ONS code	00CE
OS grid reference
NUTS 3
Ethnicity	96.2% White 1.6% S.Asian[1]
Website	doncaster.gov.uk

The Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster is a metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire in Yorkshire and the Humber Region of England.

In addition to the town of Doncaster, the borough covers Mexborough, Conisbrough, Thorne and Finningley.

The borough was created on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, as a merger of the former county borough of Doncaster along with the urban districts of Adwick le Street, Bentley with Arksey, Conisbrough, Mexborough, Tickhill along with Doncaster Rural District and Thorne Rural District, the parish of Finningley from East Retford Rural District and small parts of the parish of Harworth from Worksop Rural District from Nottinghamshire.

Population statistics

DONCASTER POPULATION

WARD	POPULATION	HOUSEHOLDS
Adwick	16,142	6,220
Armthorpe	16,977	6,495
Askern	11,414	4,293
Balby	14,336	5,514
Bentley Central	12,168	4,665
Bentley North Road	11,606	4,728
Bessacarr	13,652	5,425
Central	11,481	5,144
Conisbrough	14,894	5,837
Edlington & Warmsworth	12,291	4,641
Hatfield	15,048	5,630
Intake	10,994	4,417
Mexborough	15,282	6,281
Richmond	13,471	5,308
Rossington	12,647	4,705
South East	16,880	6,247
Southern Parks	14,439	5,520
Stainforth	15,447	5,825
Thorne	17,057	6,380
Town Field	11,131	4,587
Wheatley	11,497	4,877
Doncaster Total	288,854	112,739

Elected Mayor

It is widely thought that a political scandal popularly known as Donnygate, leading to the conviction of 21 Labour councillors for fraud and the jailing of one councillor and a property developer,^[2] was a major factor behind the residents of the area voting for the establishment of a directly elected mayor in 2001. The first mayor, Martin Winter, representing the Labour Party, was elected in 2002 and successfully defended his post in 2005.

In 2009 the English Democrat candidate, Peter Davies, won the election for mayor.^[3][4] The mayor's cabinet is made up of councillors from the minority parties on the council: 3 Conservatives, 2 Independents and 1 Liberal Democrat.^[5]

Borough Council

The council as a whole has been dominated by the Labour Party traditionally, but in the 2004 local elections, they lost overall control of the council (though they retained more councillors than any other single party). Labour regained overall control at the 2010 local elections.^[6]

Audit Commission report and central government intervention

In January 2010 the Audit Commission initiated a corporate governance inspection of Doncaster Council. This followed the sudden resignation of the Chief Executive leading to a conflict between the mayor and council over the appointment of a successor. The Commission felt that this, along with evidence that the council had not been well run for 15 years, was leading to a loss of public confidence.^[7]

The Commission's report was issued in April 2010. It found that Doncaster was a dysfunctional authority and that there were three factors preventing the council from providing good governance:^[8]

• The councillors' attempts to undermine the authority of the mayor and cabinet. There was evidence that councillors had never accepted the mayoral system and tried to use their overview and scrutiny powers to frustrate the mayor's policy objectives. In February 2010 the council had rejected the mayor's budget and voted in favour of their own proposals.
• The lack of effective leadership shown by the mayor and cabinet. The mayor was described as "not averse to provocative and inflammatory statements" and it was felt that he "does not always act in a way which demonstrates the need for an elected mayor to lead his authority and represent all the people in Doncaster".
• The failure of chief officers to deliver effectively services. Some senior officers were found to acquiesce in the councillors' misuse of scrutiny powers. There was also a lack of trust and impartiality.

On the recommendations of the commission, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, John Denham, used powers to appoint an acting chief executive and an advisory board to oversee the council.^[7]

Places

Settlements in the borough of Doncaster include:

Adwick-le-Street, Arksey, Armthorpe, Askern, Auckley, Austerfield

Balby, Barnburgh, Barnby Dun, Bawtry, Belle Vue, Bentley, Bessacarr, Blaxton, Braithwaite, Braithwell, Branton, South Yorkshire, Brodsworth, Burghwallis

Cadeby, Campsall, Cantley, Carcroft, Clayton, Clifton, Conisbrough, Cusworth

Denaby, Dunscroft, Dunsville

Edenthorpe, Edlington

Fenwick, Finningley, Fishlake

Hampole, Hatfield, Hatfield Woodhouse, Hayfield, Hexthorpe, Highfields, Hickleton, High Levels, High Melton, Hooton Pagnell Hyde Park

Intake, Kirk Sandall

Lindholme, Loversall

Mexborough, Micklebring, Moorends, Moss

New Rossington, Norton

Rossington

Scawsby, Scawthorpe, Skellow, Sprotbrough, Stainforth, Stainton, South Yorkshire, Sykehouse

Thorne, Tickhill, Toll Bar, Town Moor

Wadworth, Warmsworth, West Bessacarr, Wheatley, Wheatley Hills, Woodlands

Media

Radio stations that can be received in Doncaster are Sine FM 102.6 (serving central districts of around 100,000 households in FM stereo ), TMCR 95.3 (which serves north east Doncaster and more in FM stereo), Trax FM, Galaxy Yorkshire, Hallam FM and BBC Radio Sheffield, although both Viking FM and BBC Radio Humberside overlap into this area. Although the above stations can be received within various areas of Doncaster, the only stations which are actually owned by Doncaster based companies are Sine FM 102.6 and TMCR 95.3

References

1. ^ "Resident Population Estimates by Ethnic Group (Percentages); Mid-2005 Population Estimates". National Statistics Online. Office for National Statistics. http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=3&b=276792&c=doncaster&d=13&e=13&g=363688&i=1001x1003x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1206654191812&enc=1&dsFamilyId=1812. Retrieved 2008-03-28. 
2. ^ Martin Wainwright (13 March 2002). "Donnygate scandal ends in jail terms". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2002/mar/13/society.politics. Retrieved 16 December 2010. 
3. ^ English Democrat wins mayor vote BBC News 5 June 2009
4. ^ Mayoral results 2009 www.doncaster.gov.uk, accessed 6 June 2009
5. ^ "The Cabinet". Doncaster Council. http://www.doncaster.gov.uk/about/chamber/default.asp?Nav=Cabinet. Retrieved 15 December 2010. 
6. ^ "Doncaster council". Election 2010. BBC News. 19 May 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/election2010/council/html/3684.stm. Retrieved 15 December 2010. 
7. ^ ^{a b} Patrick Butler (19 april 2010). "Ministers take over 'dysfunctional' Doncaster council". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/apr/19/doncaster-council-failing-and-dysfunctional. 
8. ^ "Corporate Governance Inspection: Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council". Audit Commission. April 2010. http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/SiteCollectionDocuments/InspectionOutput/InspectionReports/2010/201004doncastermetropolitanboroughcouncilcorporategovernanceinspectionREP.pdf. Retrieved 12 May 2010. 

External links

• Doncaster College
• Doncaster Belles L.F.C. homepage
• Doncaster Rovers F.C. homepage
• StadiumWatch homepage
• Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield

Coordinates: 53°31′21″N 1°07′43″W / 53.5225°N 1.12861°W / 53.5225; -1.12861