doncaster (borough)

olspan=2 align=center bgcolor="#ff9999"\|Borough of Doncaster
olspan=2 align=center\|Doncaster
olspan=2 bgcolor="#ff9999"\|Geography
idth="45%"\|Status:	Metropolitan borough
a href="/encyclopedia/Regions-of-England" title="Regions of England">Region:	Yorkshire and the Humber
eremonial County:	South Yorkshire
a href="/encyclopedia/Surface-area" title="Surface area">Area: - Total	Ranked 87th 567.98 km²
dmin. HQ:	Doncaster
a href="/encyclopedia/ONS-coding-system" title="ONS coding system">ONS code:	00CE
olspan=2 bgcolor="#ff9999"\|Demographics
a href="/encyclopedia/Population" title="Population">Population: - Total (2002 est.) - Density	Ranked 19th 287,648 506 / km²
thnicity:	97.7% White 1.1% S.Asian
olspan=2 bgcolor="#ff9999"\|Politics
olspan=2 align=center\|Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council http://www.doncaster.gov.uk/
a href="/encyclopedia/Local_government_in_England#Councils_and_councillors" title="Local_government_in_England#Councils_and_councillors">Leadership:	Mayor & Cabinet
ayor:	Martin Winter (Labour)
a href="/encyclopedia/MPs-elected-in-the-UK-general-election,-2001" title="MPs elected in the UK general election, 2001">MPs:	Jeff Ennis, Caroline Flint, Rosie Winterton, Kevin Hughes

Doncaster is a metropolitan borough in South Yorkshire, England. In addition to the town of Doncaster, the borough covers Mexborough, Conisbrough, Thorne and Finningley, where the former Royal Air Force Vulcan bomber base is being converted into a passenger airport, Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield, due to open in spring 2005. The town was the centre of the South Yorkshire Coalfield until it closed down during the 1980's. It was also a large railway centre and remains as such, although less important than it once was. The council was the subject of a major police investigation in the late 1990s, when it became apparent that several councillors were guilty of corruption. Over twenty councillors, all of them from the majority Labour Party, admitted to various frauds or were convicted of them, leaving very few Labour councillors in their jobs. Most of them had made quite small false expense claims, but some had taken large bribes in return for granting planning permission. It is widely thought that this scandal, which became popularly known as "Donnygate", was a major factor behind the residents of the area voting for the establishment of a directly-elected mayor in 2001. The first mayor, Martin Winter, representing the Labour Party, was elected in 2002. The council as a whole has been dominated by the Labour Party traditionally, but in the 2004 local elections, they lost overall control of the council (though they retained more councillors than any other single party).