| City of Doncaster | |
| Type: | Metropolitan borough and city |
| Blank Emblem Type: | Coat of arms of the city council |
| Mapsize: | frameless |
| Subdivision Type: | Sovereign state |
| Subdivision Name: | United Kingdom |
| Subdivision Type1: | Constituent country |
| Subdivision Name1: | England |
| Subdivision Type2: | Region |
| Subdivision Name2: | Yorkshire and the Humber |
| Subdivision Type3: | Ceremonial county |
| Subdivision Name3: | South Yorkshire |
| Seat Type: | Admin. HQ |
| Seat: | Civic Office, Waterdale |
| Government Type: | City and metropolitan district council |
| Governing Body: | City of Doncaster Council |
| Leader Title: | Leadership |
| Leader Name: | Mayor and cabinet |
| Leader Title2: | Mayor |
| Leader Name2: | Ros Jones (L) |
| Leader Title3: | MPs |
| Leader Name3: | Lee Pitcher (L), Ed Miliband (L), Sally Jameson (L) |
| Established Title: | Founded |
| Area Rank: | |
| Population Rank: | Ranked |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Timezone: | Greenwich Mean Time |
| Utc Offset: | +0 |
| Timezone Dst: | British Summer Time |
| Utc Offset Dst: | +1 |
| Postal Code Type: | Postcode |
| Area Code: | 01302, 01405, 01709, 01977 |
| Blank Name: | ISO 3166-2 |
| Blank1 Name: | ONS code |
| Blank1 Info: | 00CE (ONS) E08000017 (GSS) |
| Blank2 Name: | OS grid reference |
| Blank3 Name: | NUTS 3 |
| Demographics Type1: | Ethnicity (2021) |
| Demographics1 Title1: | Ethnic groups |
| Demographics Type2: | Religion (2021) |
| Demographics2 Title1: | Religion |
| Website: | doncaster.gov.uk |
The City of Doncaster is a metropolitan borough with city status in South Yorkshire, England.[1] [2] [3] 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, it is the largest metropolitan borough in England by area.
The largest settlement in the borough are Doncaster itself, followed by the towns of Thorne, Hatfield and Mexborough (the latter of which is part of the Barnsley/Dearne Valley built-up area), and it additionally covers the towns of Conisbrough, Stainforth, Bawtry, Askern, Edlington and Tickhill.
Doncaster borders North Yorkshire to the north, the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north-east, North Lincolnshire to the east, Bassetlaw in Nottinghamshire to the south-east, Rotherham to the south-west, Barnsley to the west, and Wakefield, West Yorkshire, to the north-west. It is part of the Yorkshire and the Humber region.
The borough was created on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, as a merger of the former County Borough of Doncaster, the urban districts of Adwick-le-Street, Bentley with Arksey, Conisbrough, Mexborough, and Tickhill, Doncaster and Thorne rural districts, and the parish of Finningley from East Retford Rural District and small parts of the parish of Harworth from Worksop Rural District from Nottinghamshire.
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
| 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 |
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.[4] [5] 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".[6] In the May 2013 mayoral election he was defeated by Labour's Ros Jones.
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.[7]
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.[8]
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:[9]
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.[8] 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.[10]
Settlements in the Borough of Doncaster include:
In terms of television, the area is served by BBC Yorkshire and ITV Yorkshire broadcasting from the Emley Moor transmitter. [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, Hallam FM 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.
The borough is also the base of Nova Productions who produce the syndicated TV series Walks Around Britain.
The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the Borough of Doncaster.