About Rotherham

Rotherham has transformed itself over the last decade and is playing a major role in the forefront of Yorkshire’s resurgence. It has a proud industrial heritage, but is now building a new future with exciting new jobs and investment.

Key facts about Rotherham include:

• Approximately 70% of the Borough is rural, and the town is surrounded by attractive villages and rolling countryside
• It has a population of around 250,000 with a vibrant mix of people, cultures and communities
• It has excellent transport links to both the rest of the country and beyond, served by excellent road, rail and air links
• It’s an increasingly prosperous town, with inward investment at an all-time high, and a vibrant economy
• The quality of life in Rotherham is good, and the cost of living is significantly less than the UK average
• Educational attainment is improving year by year
• Rotherham has a wide range of leisure facilities and activities
• Rotherham is a comparatively safe place to live.  Burglary figures are the lowest in South Yorkshire, and violent crime is less than half the national average

Economy

Rotherham has created a diverse and thriving local economy, offering excellent conditions for jobs and businesses.   Almost 90 overseas companies have already invested in Rotherham. They and local companies operate across a wide range of sectors, including aerospace, food production, healthcare, automotive components, ICT and other hi-tech industries.

Education

Education is one of Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council’s top priorities. There are more than 200 schools, from nurseries to comprehensives, and others for children with special needs. The borough also has four colleges offering post-16 education.

School buildings across the Borough are being transformed with the help of a £240m plus Private Finance Initiative.  The proportion of people from Rotherham entering and graduating from higher education has risen at a faster rate then elsewhere in the UK in recent years, with more than 1,000 graduates each year from the Borough.

Rotherham is just a few minutes’ drive from South Yorkshire’s two highly acclaimed
universities, providing high-calibre graduates from their student population of 40,000-plus. Yorkshire & Humber region has 10 universities, producing more than 10% of the UK’s graduates each year, with 40% qualifying in scientific, electronic and computer science related subjects.The region supplies 25% of all electronics graduates in the UK.

Transport

Rotherham is in South Yorkshire, in the centre of the UK. Its location and superb transport infrastructure mean that the borough is ideally positioned for business, locally, nationally and internationally.

South Yorkshire offers fast and easy road links to the rest of the UK, via the M1, M18 and M180 motorways, and the A1(M). Four international airports within 90 minutes give Rotherham-based companies access to 46 European cities and 370 million consumers in less than three hours.

Rotherham now also benefits from direct travel to international destinations from the new 324-hectare (800-acre) airport at the nearby Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield.

Quality of Life

Rotherham’s population stands at almost 250,000, forming a diverse but harmonious society reflected in the various communities and cultures that live and work side by side.This is also one of the top four safest and most crime-free places in Yorkshire. (Source: York University, 2004)

Rotherham is a comparatively safe place to live - the number of domestic burglaries plummeted by almost a quarter in 2003/04.  In fact, burglary figures are lower than in any of the last 10 years, and the lowest in South Yorkshire.  Robbery has also fallen by 28 per cent in 2003/04, and violent crime is less than half the national average.

House prices are among the most attractive in the UK, with town and country homes ranging from large detached houses to picturesque cottages, modern estates and apartments to Victorian and Edwardian properties.

Leisure

Rotherham and it’s surrounding area are bustling with cultural and leisure activities. But modern Rotherham has many attractions, from theatres to sports. Clifton Park, five minutes’ walk from the town centre, surrounds Clifton Park House and Museum.The borough’s country parks – Ulley,Thrybergh and Rother Valley – help visitors enjoy Rotherham’s natural heritage and recreational facilities, from sailing to angling.

Rotherham town centre is a vibrant place, with 150 shops within easy walking distance of the modern Transport Interchange. The Rotherham Renaissance project will further revitalise the retail heart of the town centre.

Also near the centre, Rotherham’s Retail World is a comprehensive shopping complex at Parkgate offering a wide range of major stores, supermarket, electrical, furnishing and other outlets.

For more information on Rotherham, please visit the following link:
http://www.rido.org.uk/about.php

The following link also shows some of the exciting plans for regeneration of the area:
http://www.rotherhamrenaissance.co.uk