£7m fund to expand region’s tourist attractions
Grants for zoo, theme park and air museum
AN INCREASE in international visitors could boost South Yorkshire’s economy after almost £7m in funding was secured for an expansion of tourist sites which will create hundreds of jobs.
Hopes have been raised that attractions in Doncaster and Rotherham will rival traditional Yorkshire tourist destinations including York and the region’s coastal destinations after the cash was allocated to three separate projects.
Some £5m of the funding announced by Sheffield City Region will pay for a 150-acre expansion of the Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Doncaster, creating more than 200 jobs.
City region bosses also agreed £1.5m to help pay for Gulliver’s Valley, a planned theme park in Rotherham which is expected to employ 250 people. And £400,000 will go to the Vulcan to the Sky project, creating a permanent home for a historic Cold War RAF bomber at an air museum in Doncaster.
The Sheffield City Region’s Mayor, Dan Jarvis, said: “It’s great to be able to fund such a diverse range of projects, which will create new jobs, boost our visitor economy and complement the existing range of fantastic arts, culture and heritage sites we have here in our region.
“Not only do cultural attractions enrich our quality of life, but they act as a driver for economic growth.”
Council bosses and the Welcome to Yorkshire tourism agency will press ahead with plans to boost the marketing of South Yorkshire to international visitors after the funding was agreed.
Mr Jarvis added: “With a growing number of major visitor attractions we must now do more to promote them.
“That’s why I set up a meeting for local authorities, the Mayoral Combined Authority and Welcome to Yorkshire last month to explore how we can come together across the region to sell our exceptional offer across the North, the UK and internationally.”
The number of visitors to the
Cultural attractions enrich lives and boost economic growth. Sheffield City Region Mayor Dan Jarvis.
Yorkshire Wildlife Park is expected to grow from 750,000 to 1.2m a year by 2020, with about 230 new jobs created at a hotel, conference venue, restaurants and shops.
Steve Minion, the chairman of the Wild Life Group, which runs the site, said: “The rapid growth of Yorkshire Wildlife Park and the support we have had from South Yorkshire confirmed to us that there was the potential for a game-changing project in Doncaster.
“However, turning the dream into reality was never going to be easy and it has taken two years of intensive activity to get to this point.”
Gulliver’s Valley, planned at a former colliery site, is expected to attract £37m of private investment and create up to 250 jobs.
The Vulcan to the Sky scheme has seen the restoration a of Vulcan XL388 bomber which was part of the UK’s Cold War deterrent.
It will be housed permanently in a new hangar at Doncaster Sheffield Airport as part of a heritage project to tell the story of the aircraft and its fleet.
Dr Robert Pleming, of the Vulcan to the Sky Trust, said: “We are obviously thrilled that the Sheffield City Region has recognised the significance of the region being the permanent home to the Vulcan.”