Levelling-Up Funding Rules Leave Doncaster Trailing Peer Cities on Infrastructure Spending

Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council is watching at least four active pieces of Westminster legislation this summer, any one of which could reshape how much money flows into the borough's roads, housing and skills programmes over the next three years. The sharpest immediate concern is the Local Growth and Places Bill, currently at committee stage in the House of Lords after passing its Commons third reading in May 2026. The bill restructures how Mayoral Combined Authorities bid for capital investment, and because Doncaster sits within the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, every clause carries direct consequences for the borough's 320,000 residents.

The timing matters. South Yorkshire's existing Trailblazer Devolution Deal, signed in March 2024, handed the combined authority greater control over transport and skills budgets, but that deal was negotiated before the Local Growth and Places Bill was drafted. Policy analysts tracking the legislation note that the bill's new funding formula, which weights allocations partly on productivity gap and partly on a fixed population floor, could disadvantage mid-sized metropolitan boroughs like Doncaster when placed against larger urban cores such as Sheffield. The combined authority's gross value added per head sat at roughly 74 percent of the UK average as of the most recent Office for National Statistics estimates, a gap that in theory should attract more compensatory funding, yet the population floor clause blunts that effect for Doncaster specifically.

How Doncaster's Position Compares

Benchmark that against what is happening in comparable places. Barnsley and Rotherham, both former coalfield boroughs of similar size, fall under the same combined authority envelope and face the same structural disadvantage. But towns outside South Yorkshire are faring differently. Hartlepool, covered by the Tees Valley Mayoral Combined Authority, is projected to receive approximately £890 per resident in local growth capital over the current spending review period, according to figures published in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities annual report for 2025-26. Doncaster's share, calculated from the South Yorkshire combined authority allocation and the borough's population weight, comes to an estimated £610 per resident over the same window. That £280-per-head gap is not abstract: it translates to the difference between resurfacing a primary arterial road or leaving it on a waiting list.

The disparity is drawing attention from housing and transport advocates in the borough. Local voluntary sector groups working on housing affordability note that Doncaster recorded 1,847 households on the council's housing waiting list as of April 2026, a figure the council published in its latest housing needs assessment. Capital investment shortfalls directly affect how quickly social and affordable housing units can be brought forward on brownfield sites such as the former Doncaster Sheffield Airport land at Finningley, where outline planning permission was granted in late 2025. The Local Growth and Places Bill includes provisions that are expected to streamline compulsory purchase powers for mayoral authorities on strategic brownfield sites, which the government says will accelerate delivery, but the funding gap means fewer schemes can be started even if legal barriers fall.

What Comes Next for the Borough

Three other bills on the tracker carry secondary but significant implications for Doncaster residents. The Employment Rights Act 2025, now entering secondary legislation phase, sets new rules on zero-hours contracts and flexible working requests. Doncaster's economy retains a higher-than-average share of logistics and warehousing employment, sectors where zero-hours arrangements remain common, and employers in the iPort logistics park at Rossington will need to comply with revised contract terms by October 2026 under the Act's implementation timetable. The Skills England Bill, expected to receive Royal Assent before the summer recess, restructures further education funding and is projected to redirect money toward employer-led training boards, which could benefit Doncaster College's partnerships with local manufacturers if the college secures a seat on the relevant regional skills board.

The Local Growth and Places Bill is not expected to complete its Lords passage before September 2026, meaning the final funding formula could still change at report stage. South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority has submitted a formal representation to the Lords committee requesting an amendment to the population floor calculation. The outcome of that submission, and of the parallel spending review due in the autumn, will determine whether Doncaster closes the gap on better-funded peer cities or carries the shortfall into the next budget cycle.