The St Leger festival has been an integral part of Doncaster’s history since the 18th Century and is an important date within the calendar of our town and the racing world. This said, we as Doncaster Conservative Councillors, represent varied communities across our Borough. Some of which, include parts of Cantley Common and Rose Hill which are very close to the racecourse. We have reasonable reservations about the event taking place this year - with a significant crowd. Doncaster has been at the forefront of the fight against Covid with our ‘R‘ number being one of  the lowest in the area. Unfortunately, it would appear this decision has been taken out of our hands as the Labour MP for Doncaster Central has lobbied our Government to have the  pilot staged in Doncaster. As politicians we fully back the Government in the need to reopen events, including racing and other sports, but cannot see that Doncaster is best placed for this to happen.

Each one of Doncaster’s Conservative councillors is concerned about the obvious lack of communication between the elected mayor and one of her local labour MP’s.  Their public split shows a clear lack of leadership at the very top and that is bad for Doncaster. To what extent did the MP for Doncaster Central gather and consider the views of local Doncaster residents before lobbying the Sports Minister and what did she do with this information.  The mayor has done many publicly funded surveys throughout this crisis including about the opening of schools.  It feels as if local people may have been put at unnecessary risk. Labour’s public argument about the Leger Festival has been a huge waste of time. It’s time to work for our town and not against it. 

Cllr Jane Cox (Group leader)

Cllr Richard Jones ( Deputy leader)

Cllr Nick Allen

Cllr Steve Cox

Cllr Martin Greenhalgh

Cllr Nigel Cannings

Cllr Cynthia Ransome

Cllr Jonathan Wood