My plan for our communities

To support and strengthen our communities I will: 

Recognise the right to safe, secure and warm housing for every person who lives here.  

Everyone should have the right to safe, secure and warm housing. And yet that right is all too often undermined by a lack of affordable housing, rising energy costs and bad landlords. At the same time, more and more people are being made homeless, or living in temporary accommodation. I will do everything in my power to reverse those trends. That includes building on the work we are already doing to make homes warmer and better insulated, learning from Labour Mayors who are tackling bad landlords and homelessness, and building more affordable homes across South Yorkshire.  

Develop a single point of entry for skills and training opportunities in South Yorkshire, offering everyone access to the support they need to make the most of their talents.

The skills system can be confusing and difficult to navigate. Apprenticeships, training opportunities, vocational courses; it can often be difficult to know where to start when trying to access the world of post 16 and post 19 education. And yet we have one of the best adult education offers in the country. That’s why I will make sure we develop a single point of entry for skills and training opportunities in South Yorkshire. People with ambition need to know how to get access to the support they need to develop their talents here in our region, so they can stay near and go far.       

Appoint an Equalities Commissioner, to make sure we’re listening to voices from across our communities, creating a South Yorkshire that works for everyone.

All our communities’ voices must be heard, and yet the political structures we have across South Yorkshire do not always represent the full, brilliant diversity of our region. So I will appoint an Equalities Commissioner to help me build a South Yorkshire that is open to all. Our South Yorkshire Equalities Commissioner will have a broad remit to help shape policies and programmes that reflect the lived experience of all our communities, so everything we do is truly accessible to everyone who calls South Yorkshire their home. 

Create a South Yorkshire talent identification programme; investing in the next generation of athletes, musicians, artists and entrepreneurs.     

We are a place that has gifted artists, musicians, sportspeople and academics to the world. Beth England, Richard Hawley, Dorothy Hyman, Kevin Keegan, Jess Ennis, Matt Turner and many, many more, are our best ambassadors. But we should not only celebrate the success of those world leading, world famous people from South Yorkshire, we should nurture the next generation of the gifted and talented from here too. So I will create a talent identification programme that offers both mentoring and sponsorship to the next generation of world beaters from South Yorkshire.

Celebrate the heritage, history and achievements of South Yorkshire through a region wide cultural programme.

South Yorkshire was the first place to mass produce steel, and to build an Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District. We are the home of football, and the World Snooker Championships. We have Roman ruins, Cities in the Sky, Baroque stately homes and Manor Castles. We have seen disasters and battles. Together, we have been through good times and bad, fortune and fear. Our stories deserve to be told well and told often, to ourselves and to the world. I will celebrate that history and heritage through a programme that celebrates and promotes our history and heritage, our culture and our visitor attractions here in South Yorkshire and across the UK, telling our stories to the world.