The City of Doncaster is a metropolitan borough with city status in South Yorkshire, England.[2][3][4] It is named after its principal settlement, Doncaster, and includes the surrounding suburbs of Doncaster as well as numerous towns and villages. The district has large amounts of countryside; at 219 square miles (570 km2), it is the largest metropolitan borough in England by area.
According to the 2011 census, the population of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster is 302,400.
With approximately 110,000 inhabitants, the town of Doncaster itself contains around a third of the population of the entire borough. Around half of the borough's population reside within Doncaster's urban area (approximately 160,000).
Verified population statistics per Ward from the 2001 census are shown as
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
A referendum was held in 2001, to decide if a directly elected mayor should be appointed. 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.[5][6] In January 2013 Davies left the English Democrats citing "a big influx of new members (of the English Democrats) joining from the British National Party".[7] In the May 2013 mayoral election he was defeated by Labour's Ros Jones.
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.[8]
2010 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.[9]
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:[10]
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.[9] A Doncaster Recovery Board, comprising four appointed commissioners and seven other members including the mayor and chief executive held its first quarterly meeting on 10 September 2010.[11]
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 Northeast Doncaster and other areas in FM stereo), TX1 Radio (covering Doncaster and Bassetlaw), Capital Yorkshire, Heart Yorkshire, Greatest Hits Radio Yorkshire, Hits Radio South Yorkshire and BBC Radio Sheffield. Although the above stations can be received within various areas of Doncaster, the only stations actually owned by Doncaster-based companies are Sine FM 102.6 and TMCR 95.3.
