'Here's what we want to see from Doncaster mayor'

Voters in Doncaster will be able to cast their ballot for a directly elected mayor, local councillor and parish representatives on 1 May.

The reopening of the city's airport has been a central point of campaigning from parties but three people involved in Doncaster communities explain what matters most to them.

Michael Price owns what is believed to be the city's only supper club, which he hosts from his home in Town Fields.

The Gourmet Kitchen owner has been running his business for 14 years and also works as a restaurant consultant.

He says the industry has been under "relentless" strain for several years.

"My wife and I are very lucky as we run a very tight, small business but lots of friends within the industry with very successful businesses and Michelin-starred restaurants are really struggling.

"Ever since Covid a lot of them have got loans that need repaying, there's been a massive increase in inflation and the cost of ingredients and the increase in VAT is something that has never been addressed.

"Typically, the hospitality business in the good days would run on a 10% margin.

"Now a lot of businesses are not making any profit whatsoever, if they are just treading water they are doing well, and then we are seeing other restaurants going bust."

Michael wants councillors and the mayor to focus on the city centre.

"Everywhere is struggling with diminishing visitors for town centres and when there are no shoppers in the area, you get all the anti-social behaviour which you can see a lot of in Doncaster. There are people with complex lives and drug addicts.

"I think that really needs to be addressed, even if the council has to fund police officers."

The city centre is also a concern for Chris Cuthbert who owns bike shop Pedal Power.

He says his business's biggest challenge is crime.

"We deal with a lot of burglaries and shoplifting, we have had a string of attempted burglaries pretty much consistently for the last few years.

"We had about 14 attempts within about six months at some point last year and that's not just isolated to us, that's all the businesses locally," he explains.

"We certainly need a reduction in crime. We need to have a general overhaul on a ground level, we need to see more policing and more engagement from the council," he adds.

Chris is also keen to see more investment in apprenticeships for young people as the skills needed to repair bikes is changing with the switch to electric cycles.

"One of the biggest issues we have is staffing.

"Across the board there has been massive governmental support in cycling and green initiatives but we are not seeing any apprenticeships coming through.

"We are spending £20m on cycle networks on the roads in Doncaster but there seems to be nothing coming through to support the growth of these initiatives," he adds.

While reopening Doncaster Sheffield Airport is a key focus for politicians, elderly people are said to be more concerned about roads, says Collette Bunker.

She is chief executive at Be:friend, a charity which helps reduce loneliness and isolation in older people.

They recently held a workshop to find out what issues elderly people were concerned about.

"When it comes to getting out and about, our older neighbours really have to think about what routes to take because they say there's a very short amount of time to cross with the green man on a pedestrian crossing.

"A lot of our older neighbours will really think about where they are going and there are certain roads they won't cross because of the panic of getting across the road in a few seconds.

"It's such an easy fix to look at pedestrian crossings," she says.

Older residents also specifically mentioned housing, according to Collette.

"There are some newly built bungalows for people aged 55-plus, accessible for wheelchair users, but they are built on two huge hills.

"So getting anywhere proves very challenging, in fact, the residents have nicknamed it Cardiac Hill.

"Looking at hills and proximity to shops during planning are little things that would make older neighbours' lives so much easier," she adds.

There are a total of 12 candidates for mayor standing for election on 1 May.

They are:

David Bettney – Social Democratic Party

Frank Calladine - British Democratic Party

Andy Hiles - Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition

Nick Fletcher – Conservative Party

Ahsan Jamil – Workers Party of Britain

Alexander Jones – Reform UK

Ros Jones – Labour Party

Mihai Melenciuc – Liberal Democrats

Richie Vallance – Independent

Andrew Walmsley – Yorkshire Party

Doug Wright – Independent

You can find out more about all the candidates here.

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