00:00Reactions to the Chancellor's first budget?
00:03Well look, I think we all know the Chancellor inherited a really tough hand
00:06and yet I think she's played it incredibly well. It's good for the
00:09country, the growth rate goes up as a result of the budget and it's good for
00:12South Yorkshire. Not only money for things like SuperTram but the so-called
00:16single pot settlement which gives people like me more freedom, more flexibility
00:20over the money we spend here. It's good news for our region.
00:22Well we'll go straight into SuperTram then because that's a lot of money for city region
00:27transits that we've had mentioned, SuperTram being one of them of course.
00:31What are your hopes for that money and for the future of SuperTram then?
00:35Well look, first and foremost we have to invest in the network so that it is safe
00:37and secure and so it works efficiently and effectively and that's about renewal,
00:40that's about the new tracks, the new overhead lines, hopefully in time new
00:44trams as well. But I'm hugely ambitious for SuperTram. It should run right across
00:47South Yorkshire, we should extend the network wherever we can and what we've
00:51seen now is a government prepared to invest in South Yorkshire's mass
00:53transit network and we're entering into conversations and negotiations about how
00:57much further we can go.
00:58I know there's been conversations about looking into the feasibility of tram train extensions to Stocksbridge and Barrow Hill.
01:04How are you feeling about those? Is there any progress on those?
01:07Yeah, really positive because look, today we've seen the government are prepared to invest in
01:11South Yorkshire's SuperTram network and that is just a down payment I hope on
01:14the future. We're working with Sheffield Council, we're working right across the
01:17MCA region, right across South Yorkshire to work out those plans on South
01:21Yorkshire's SuperTram extension. That's really exciting, it's not been extended
01:25meaningfully, it's gone out to Rotherham and was going to go out to Magna but
01:29it's not been extended elsewhere for nearly 30 years so really excited
01:33about that. It's a big opportunity not just for our SuperTram network but for
01:36the productivity of South Yorkshire for connecting up people to opportunity.
01:41And these more flexible I guess, bits of funding for you as a regional mayor, what are your hopes for that as well?
01:46What really needs addressing here?
01:48Well essentially what that does is at the moment we get loads of pots of money and we've got loads of
01:51different rules that are associated with each of those pots. What this does is
01:54take that off so we get all that money or large parts of that money in one lump
01:59sum, we get to spend that in the way that we want to spend it on the
02:01priorities that we have as a region. So it gives me more flexibility and more
02:05freedom but in response to the needs that our communities have. So it's a
02:08really good day, it means that we have that flexibility and freedom and we can
02:12focus on those priorities that we have as a region.
02:14Less red tape, I think.
02:15I hope so, I hope so.
02:16I wanted to just touch on trains again, it was very transport focused for me at the minute but I think the
02:21Chancellor mentioned a lot of rail upgrades, particularly over the Pennines, a lot of them
02:26affecting Greater Manchester but didn't seem to get a mention in South Yorkshire
02:29where our trains aren't very good either. Is that disappointing?
02:31Well look, Manchester has a specific set of problems and they've been talking about
02:35those for a long time now. We're now talking to government, talking through
02:39TfN, in fact I was on a meeting with TfN as the budget was going on about what
02:42our challenges look like in our region. Some of those changes and challenges
02:46affect us, for instance if you want to go from Sheffield now to Manchester
02:49Airport you have to change at Manchester and that's because of the
02:52track capacity and the platform capacity at Manchester so
02:55this is a system, if you want to fix one part of it you kind of have to fix all
02:58of it. I'm pleased that Manchester's getting more investment, we're talking
03:01to the government about the investment that we need here but ultimately we need
03:04to fix that whole system if all of that system is going to work effectively for
03:07South Yorkshire.
03:08Awesome, and to finish then, will you be taking advantage of the penny off your pints in the pub this week?
03:13I think I'll need to after the week that we've had but look it's really good news, we'll be celebrating Rachel and the
03:18budget today and having a pint and I hope everybody else does too.
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