What a year this has been for Doncaster!!!

What a year this has been for Business Doncaster and Visit Doncaster

2016, for many people, has turned out to be a strange year, politically and economically but in terms of economic development and business growth the year in Doncaster has been highly successful.

It’s fair to say that in terms of new investment and the Sheffield City Region all eyes are focused on us. This year has been truly transformational in terms of projects delivered that are making such a difference to the people of the Yorkshire region and beyond.

February saw the long awaited opening of the Great Yorkshire Way or FARRRS as commonly known. A project long in the making and much anticipated what a difference it has made since the glorious day back in February when the ribbon was cut. In our mind this has been the best funding ever spent in Doncaster and has been truly transformational.

 Look at what has happened since!

·        Doncaster Sheffield Airport is going from strength to strength. FlyBe have established themselves in a big way with flights to a number of European destinations including the cities of Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin and Dusseldorf. WizzAir has opened up new routes to Bucharest and Sofia, Cargo operations are growing at a tremendous pace and the Aero Centre brand has been launched

·        The Inland Port at Rossington being built by Verdion has finally started and made rapid progress with new tenants Amazon and Fellowes already operational and new builds under construction for Amazon and Ceva Logistics. Coupled with the announcements of Lidl and new speculative sheds being built next year we are already looking upwards of 1000 jobs on site meaning the Business Doncaster Iport recruitment and training academy now open in Rossington is going to be very busy.

·        New housing in going up on the Harworth Estates Rossington Colliery site and the link road through to the village is now open bringing much needed improvements for the residents of Rossington.

What else has taken place in Doncaster in 2016!

·        Amazon has opened two new facilities

·        Our rail sector is going from strength to strength. We have seen new investments from Volker Rail, Wabtec, Amey Rail, Hitachi Rail and others. The National College for High Speed rail is under construction and looks very impressive at Lakeside with opening scheduled for September 2017

·        St Modwen Developments have shown confidence in Doncaster by building speculative industrial units on Wheatley Hall Road and new retail units have gone up on Crompton Retail Park in Wheatley with the Waterdale Shopping Centre being re-branded and new units under construction

·        Henry Boot have built and seen unprecedented demand for their new industrial units at Capitol Park in Thorne, a town which has also seen new major investment from Iqbal Poultry and Lidl with further retail investment in 2017

·        Our Logistics sector continues to grow with Next having completed their large new facility in Armthorpe and both Victoria Plum and Price Express Transport establishing new distribution facilities in Balby.

·        Our visitor economy goes from strength to strength with visitor numbers improving yet again and new investments from the Mount Pleasant Hotel, Mercure Danum Hotel, Go Bounce, Potteric Carr Nature Reserve, Virgin Trains and major refurbishments to the Mansion House and the Corn Exchange

·        Tour de Yorkshire happened in 2016 and brought a record number of people out onto the streets of Doncaster and despite a blip in television coverage showed Doncaster in an extremely positive light and proved we are a town that can successfully host major national events

One common theme running through the above is that all these new exciting developments have been either brought to Doncaster or supported in some way by Business Doncaster and Doncaster Tourism.

2016 has been a period of change for us but through it we have managed to remain professional, focused and contributed in no small way to the growth of our economy.

We have undergone staff changes with a new Destination Manager, a new Retail investment Officer and a new Key Account and Business Growth Officer all coming into the team and making major contributions along with all our other professional and focused staff members

We have

·        Successfully commissioned and launched a Doncaster Place Marketing programme and fully supported the newly formed private sector led Doncaster Place Board and Ambassador programme which will make such a difference to the future promotion  and awareness of Doncaster, regionally and nationally

·        Organised another very successful Doncaster Business Month culminating in a record breaking Business Showcase which had the highest ever number of stand holders and visitors.

·        Held the 2ND annual well attended and highly acclaimed Doncaster Rail conference which brought people from across the UK to the home of rail to learn about new developments in the industry and the impact for Doncaster

·        Fully delivered and continue to deliver a Sheffield City Region Sector Growth Enhancement programme along with our partners in Sheffield, Rotherham and Barnsley which has provided much needed help and support to large and SME businesses across Doncaster.

·        Managed a Business Incentive scheme on behalf of Doncaster Council which has been successful in helping us bring forward new investment and business growth

·        Worked with Doncaster Chamber and others to organise a fact finding mission to Dalian, China where we have raised the profile of Doncaster and our business community to a new audience in one of China’s fastest growing provinces.

·        Organised monthly familiarisation visits and regular property forums which have been very well attended and allowed us to shout out about the new developments taking place and showcase Doncaster as a potential investment location

·        Worked with the Racecourse, Right up our Street and Ladbrokes to organise and run another successful St Leger festival week of events in September which included the DN Weekend arts festival

·        Organised and supported the 2016 Dragon Boat event and the 2016 British Jet Ski Championships, both at Lakeside which again saw a record number of entrants and good visitor numbers. The Dragon Boat event raised a record ï¿¡15,000 for various charities

·        Seen improvements in sales and continued our exceptional customer service in the Doncaster Tourism Information Centre which saw us as a finalist in the Welcome to Yorkshire White Rose Awards for 2016 and we look forward to being judged in the National Visit Britain Tourism Awards in 2017

Speaking of Tourism 2016 saw a major setback for the team when, in June, we lost our Tourism Manager Colin Joy who passed away unexpectedly at the age of 52. Colin was a unique well known character who did a great deal in his time to raise our profile and promote Doncaster as a visitor destination. He was a very popular figure head for Doncaster Tourism and a great ambassador for the town. He has been sadly missed but we are continuing his good work in developing our Tourism sector and promoting Doncaster via the Visit Doncaster website and other initiatives and this will continue.

2017 promises to be another great year for Doncaster as our town goes from strength to strength and new investment takes place in the Town Centre.

We at Business Doncaster and Doncaster Tourism expect the new year to be really busy as

·        We launch a brand new Business Doncaster website in January of which we are very proud and which will focus on promoting Doncaster as a place to invest, do business, live and play.

·        We are working on a number of strong investment enquiries, some of which we hope will come to fruition creating new jobs and wealth for the people of Doncaster

·        We are working on the 2017 Business Month and will ensure that the 2017 Business Showcase taking place at the Racecourse on 16th February is our biggest and best yet.

·        We are focusing on a number of new initiatives to support new investment in our town centres including retail growth and major events.

·        We will continue to support our largest companies and growth businesses enabling them to compete in a changing economic climate

·        We will further develop our visitor economy and work closely with our attractions on the promotion of Doncaster as a place to visit and stay.

Thank you to all our customers and clients for a tremendous 2016. We look forward to continuing to support you and our great town in 2017 and wish you all a prosperous new year

Chris Dungworth

Team Manager

Business Doncaster and Visit Doncaster