Mayor calls railway station traffic 'a mess'

Mayor of South Yorkshire Oliver Coppard has been answering questions on BBC Radio Sheffield

The mayor of South Yorkshire says traffic chaos outside Sheffield railway station is "ridiculous and a mess".

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

He also spoke about Sheffield Wednesday football club, whether Supertram would be extended, and whether Andy Burham should become Labour leader.

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

Railway station mess needs sorted

"When I was a kid the station worked perfectly, then they changed it around. They improved the station massively but the way you come around that corner to the station is ridiculous.

"Anybody who uses Sheffield station will be sitting at home nodding along, saying how ridiculous it is that you have the short stay car park, the long stay car park and the taxi rank.

"It's just a mess, so we have to get that sorted."

The mayor says he's also frustrated that a building site at the station, owned by Homes England, remains empty.

Sheffield Wednesday owner must go

Coppard had been asked about calls for the Thai businessman to sell the club, over ongoing financial issues at the Championship side.

"I'm sick to death of Dejphon Chansiri and him messing around the club and the fans.

"He should go and sell the club on at a decent price. I've been talking to Clive Betts MP who is doing a huge amount.

"I said to Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy that the football regulator needs to come in sooner so they can hopefully put some pressure on Chansiri to sell up."

Chansiri has admitted he turned down two offers for the club over summer. At the time, he said, "I am willing to sell but the deal must be correct on all fronts."

No Supertram extension yet

Coppard says he "can't just magic money up" to extend Supertram.

"Why not extend the tram to Maltby, Dinnington, to the airport, to Barnsley?

"Because it costs a huge amount of money.

"Those trams and the network are 30 years old. We're doing a lot of repair work to make it fit for the future. Once we've invested that money, that's when we can hopefully look at how we can extend it.

The mayor highlights the cost of repairing the network is £535m - and says £160m is also being spent on reopening Doncaster Sheffield Airport.

Andy Burnham should stay as mayor

"Andy is doing a brilliant job as the mayor of Greater Manchester and he pioneered devolution in lots of ways, so he's really been at the forefront of this conversation about how places like Manchester and South Yorkshire need more powers, more control, more funding and more investment.

"He's been saying that for years now and I want to see Andy continuing to do that job.

"I'm determined to give the government as much support as I can but what's going on in the Labour Party is of less interest to me than what's going on in South Yorkshire."

Coppard had been asked about the news that MPs have been urging Andy Burnham to run against Sir Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership.

South Yorkshire needs more investment

"The north west has seen a lot more investment than some other places and I'm saying to the government, they need to redress that balance and put some more money over here in Yorkshire.

"We've had a recent announcement of about £1.5bn for transport from 2027 so that's really good. I've never known an investment of that size in transport in South Yorkshire."

The mayor says he is "frustrated" with the pace of change across the north, and wants "ambitious" plans to be announced for the long term.