A total of £12m in funding has been awarded to projects across the Sheffield City Region, including up to £7m towards a district centre development at Waverley, in Rotherham.
The grant from the Local Growth Fund (LGF) will contribute to Waverley Square Ltd’s £42.7m plan for new retail, leisure and office facilities on the Waverley site, at the heart of the Region’s Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District (AMID) and emerging Global Innovation Corridor.
At the SCR Mayoral Combined Authority meeting, chaired by Mayor Dan Jarvis and held at the SCR’s offices in Broad Street West, Sheffield, members also agreed funding for other schemes in Chesterfield, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield.
Mayor Jarvis said: “This is a great example of the Mayoral Combined Authority and LEP using our resources to make significant improvements to communities in the Sheffield City Region, as well as being an important step in the ongoing growth of our Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District (AMID) and the emerging Global Innovation Corridor.
“This development in Waverley, together with the ambitious plans for our transport network laid out in our draft bid to the Transforming Cities Fund, will build on the success of recent investments in the area from companies such as McLaren Automotive and Boeing.
“With the right transport and infrastructure in place, we can create a super-connected community where people want to live, work and play, improve people’s quality of life and actively contribute to improving the UK’s economic productivity.”
Minister for the Northern Powerhouse and Local Growth, Jake Berry MP, said: “We are committed to boosting economic growth across the whole of the Northern Powerhouse and building a country that works for everyone.
“I am really pleased to see £12 million of Local Growth Funding going towards these exciting regeneration projects which will deliver jobs, commercial opportunities and leisure facilities for people and businesses across the Sheffield City Region. This truly demonstrates how government is working hand-in-hand with Local Enterprise Partnerships and Metro Mayors to drive economic growth across the North.”
Duncan Armstrong Payne, Associate Director with responsibility for Waverley at Harworth Group plc, added: “The City Region’s support is essential in helping to deliver a ‘heart’ to the Waverley development, which remains one of the UK’s most important brownfield regeneration projects.
“The local centre will deliver hundreds of new jobs in its own right, whilst supporting Harworth to accelerate plot sales to housebuilders and provide the facilities that occupiers like McLaren, Rolls-Royce and the University of Sheffield’s AMRC increasingly require.”
Mark Dransfield, Managing Director at Dransfield Properties said: “This is a major step forward in delivering this key development for Rotherham and the wider City Region which will bring investment and a significant number of local jobs to the area.
“Our Fox Valley development has delivered a new town centre ,creating 750 new jobs and has helped to bring real change in north Sheffield since opening three years ago this month.
“Waverley Square will be built to the same high standard, with strong architecture and attention to detail to create the facilities and services needed for this growing business and residential community. This kind of quality place making can only be delivered by securing grant funding so we are delighted to have the support of the Sheffield City Region.”
At the same meeting, a grant of £910,000 was agreed for DN College Group to purchase and install specialist Visual Effects equipment at the 360 Digital Media film studio in High Melton, Doncaster. This investment is in addition to the £4.1m investment already agreed by the SCR for the 360 Digital Media development.