The Sheffield City Region Combined Authority is the combined authority for South Yorkshire in England, with powers over transport, economic development and regeneration. The combined authority does not formally cover all of the Sheffield City Region as it does not include areas of northern Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire which are part of the city region. However the district councils of those areas of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire are represented on the combined authority as non-constituent members. The authority's first mayoral election took place on Thursday 3 May, coinciding with the 2018 United Kingdom local elections.
History
The Sheffield City Region was one of eight city regions defined in the 2004 document Moving Forward: The Northern Way, as a collaboration between the three northern regional development agencies. In September 2006, the Local Authorities comprising the Sheffield City Region launched the Sheffield City Region Development Programme. This set outs out how the local authorities believe that by working together as a city region they could increase the economic output of the area by 12.6% by 2016. It also describes governance structures for the city region, including a City Region Forum. The City Region Forum has since been formally established, and has resolved to set up four thematic Joint Issue Boards to take forward some of the propositions made in the City Region Development Programme. The four Joint Issue Boards cover transport; Residential Offer ; Destination Management ; and Knowledge Economy and Innovation. The region began its work properly in 2008, with a development forum created. This is to be headed up by Sylvia Yates, the former director of South Yorkshire Objective OneEuropean grants programme before the European funding was lost.
As part of the consultation process for the new authority, the UK government suggested the name South Yorkshire Combined Authority, which was rejected by the authorities who favoured the name Sheffield City Region Combined Authority. The government rejected this name as "misleading and inappropriate". The order presented to parliament to create the authority referred to it as the Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and Sheffield Combined Authority. The authority has since adopted the corporate name Sheffield City Region Combined Authority.
The Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership was established in 2012. The local enterprise partnership covers the nine local authority areas. The Sheffield City Region Enterprise Zone includes sites spread over Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, Sheffield and Markham Vale, Derbyshire. In August 2011 the government announced the creation of the zone, which included the existing Advanced Manufacturing Park in Rotherham. The zone was actually set up in 2012. In March 2014 more sites were added, increasing the zone's total area by around half. These included the addition of a site at Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield.
Combined Authority Membership
The Combined Authority consists of the four local authorities of South Yorkshire as constituent members and the other authorities in the Sheffield City Region as non-constituent partners. Membership numbers are weighted to ensure a majority of South Yorkshire members and non-constituent members may be excluded from some votes. The membership of the combined authority is as follows:
