Mayor says fuel prices 'difficult' for businesses

The mayor of South Yorkshire says he understands people's struggles with the cost of living and hopes better public transport will help ease some of the costs.

Oliver Coppard has also spoken out about fly-tipping, new hospitals and why regional mayors should be given more powers.

The Labour mayor has been answering questions on BBC Radio Sheffield's Call Coppard phone-in.

Read our takeaways from the hour below or listen to the full interview here.

The cost of filling up a vehicle soared in August as the conflict in the Middle East continued to disrupt global oil supplies.

Petrol prices jumped to their highest for nearly four years, the Office for National Statistics said, while diesel also rocketed.

"I was driving past the service station at the end of Parkway and I had to do a double take because it was 1.94 for unleaded," Coppard said.

"I was blown away by the cost of petrol and how much it has gone up in a relatively short space of time."

He continued: "Businesses which use fuel to get around have to put their prices up, so it feeds into the economy in that way as well.

"It's really difficult. My control in South Yorkshire is limited, but we can help people with public transport and we want to make that as affordable as possible - which is why we are bringing the buses back under public control."

A recent Freedom of Information request found Rotherham Council spent more than £175,000 between 2024 and 2026 on clearing fly-tipping and public waste, with the mayor sharing strong feelings on the subject.

"It's one of the most selfish things that anyone can do - littering, fly-tipping, graffiti, I hate it all," he said.

"It brings down our places and it puts off investment. We need to clamp down on fly-tipping.

"I've set up something called the South Yorkshire Big Clean, working with the police and other partners including the criminal justice system.

"People who are going through community restorative justice are cleaning up. It is literally paying back to their local community.

"Fly-tipping is often a council issue, and the police have a role as well, but this has to be about putting social pressure on those people who think it's OK to dump stuff out of the back of their car and leave the rest of us to deal with it - we need to speak out against those people we know is doing this."

Discussing Doncaster Royal Infirmary and the need to rebuild and refurbish the site, Coppard said: "There are significant structural issues, I think it's one of the worst instances of a need for a refurbishment I've seen.

"It's run by brilliant people giving a brilliant service to the community, it's a great hospital, but the building itself structurally needs a load of work and a load of investment.

"I made the case to the previous Conservative government and to this current Labour government - there needs to be investment in the hospital, we need to see people having the healthcare facilities they deserve and ultimately that means a new hospital.

"In the short term there has been money invested, and I welcome that, but long term we need a plan for how we are going to invest properly in Doncaster healthcare and ideally bring some of those services into the city centre as we've seen in Barnsley."

Under plans being considered by the government, mayors and other local political leaders could be given powers to oversee water companies.

Improving the water industry has been a focus for Prime Minister Andy Burnham since he took to power, as water customers in England and Wales continue to face steep bill hikes.

"Having somebody who is democratically elected, a big political figure who can hold that company to account, who have experts around them, whose interests aren't based on what the shareholders want, has to be a good thing," Coppard said.

"Along with mayors having more power there needs to be more scrutiny, more accountability and more transparency.

"I need to be able to make sure people out there can understand what I'm doing, check if I'm not doing it the right way and then ultimately vote for me or not vote for me based on my record."

South Yorkshire is set to run a publicly-controlled bus network by September 2027, with Coppard counting down the months.

"It's the first time that's happened in South Yorkshire in over 40 years and is good news because it means we will control the route, the fares and the timetables," he said.

"From day one you'll see a whole new fleet of electric buses in Sheffield and Doncaster.

"We will go from the bottom of the league table in this country for the number of electric buses to very near the top with hundreds of new buses rolling out.

"We will also have a refurbished fleet of trams rolling out from around the beginning of 2028.

"Under 18s will have free travel across our region from September 2027, saving families hundreds of pounds a year.

"At the moment we have so many different fare options and you can't figure out what is the best option, so I want to see more integrated tickets and better day and weekly tickets."