South Yorkshire's Mayor left feeling 'let down' by latest round of Levelling Up funding
Oliver Coppard's been speaking to us after South Yorkshire's transport system wasn't given anything in the latest round of government funding
The Mayor of South Yorkshire insists the region 'shouldn't be competing' against other areas in the county for 'levelling up' funds.
It's after the public transport network across Sheffield, Doncaster, Rotherham & Barnsley was overlooked in the latest round of funding.
Despite this-bus services in nearby West Yorkshire are set to benefit from up to £41 million worth of government investment.
It's left Oliver Coppard feeling disappointed:
"We should not be in competition with West Yorkshire.
"West Yorkshire needs a functioning public transport system, but so do we.
"The whole point of Levelling Up in this country is so that communities like ours can get the support required to eventually get a 'London-style' transport system.
"This government said it was their aim to deliver that.
"We need to get out and about, across our region easily, efficiently and as cheaply as possible.
"We used to have a world-class public transport system in South Yorkshire.
"I want to get back to that too, and I know that the leaders of the local authorities here do as well.
"So, we're all working as hard as we can, but we do need support from government with this."
In total, over 100 projects have been awarded a share of 2.1 billion pounds from Round 2 of the government’s Levelling Up Fund across the UK.