Councillor's concerns over £20m cash pot for Rotherham

Rotherham MP Ms Champion revealed a £20m government pot of cash – to pay for Pride in Place projects – and asked people to suggest how it should be spent.

She described the funding as “Rotherham’s opportunity to say what it needs, and have the money to pay for it”.

But Cllr Michael Bennett-Sylvester, who represents Dalton and Thrybergh on Rotherham Borough Council, says the funding is not new money and slammed it as a “political trick”.

He said: “The Advertiser article for the £20m Pride in Place funding may sound familiar to many readers because it is the third time the same funding has been proclaimed.”

He said that the money was originally announced in 2023 as the Long Term Plan for Towns which was later rebranded as the Plan for Neighbourhoods in 2025 and then renamed as Pride in Place.

He said: “This is a classic political trick which confuses the electorate to think they are getting fresh funding but we are talking the same money just with different packaging.

“The same criticism of the Pride in Place funding still applies from when it was last year Plan for Neighbourhoods in that it is not for the whole of Rotherham, but the model the government are using excludes some of Rotherham’s most deprived areas such as Dalton, Thrybergh and Munsbrough while including affluent areas like Stag, the Grange and Duke of Norfolk estates.

“It is a plan that can lead to further division, left behind neighbourhoods being left further behind, and nobody, either Sarah Champion or Rotherham Council, are discussing how to prevent that.”

Cllr Bennett-Sylvester also criticised the way Ms Champion was proceeding with deciding how the funding should be spent.

He said: “ A few weeks ago I had a phone call off a friend saying they had been invited to a meeting at Sarah Champion’s office to discuss how the now named Pride in Place funding should be spent.

“The person is wonderful but does not live in the area receiving funding, the community organisation they head up plays no role in the area of funding.

“I then checked with several people active in community activities in deprived areas that are included – East Herringthorpe, East Dene and the town centre – none of whom were invited.

“No matter how well meaning, people not involved in these communities should not be making decisions for them and the question to be asked is Sarah Champion building an echo chamber that will fund what she wants rather than lead where the communities need?”

He was also critical of the survey Sarah Champion is running in which she invites residents in the Pride of Place area to offer up ideas.

Cllr Bennett-Sylvester said: “Why? If you want to know priorities, this hasn’t been done already.

“Last year my ward colleague Cllr Ryalls and I had to fight to get East Herringthorpe listed in the consultation run by Voluntary Action Rotherham and Rotherham Investment and Development Office but when it was it was a good consultation that was anonymous and weighted to take account of deprivation.

“The Sarah Champion extra survey asks for contact details and my suspicion from years of dealing with political campaigns is that this is more about data capture and targeting activity for the next election.”

Cllr Bennett-Sylvester added: “The Pride in Place funding is at best deeply flawed, at worst troubling in that a lack of accountability and oversight combined with how Sarah Champion is conducting the process means we are handing a slush fund to help our MP keep her seat rather than address real community need.”

The Advertiser approached Ms Champion for a response but none was received prior to deadline.