Doncaster Sheffield Airport: Council boss threatens legal action against top Reform councillors

Reform group leader Craig Ward and deputy leader Jason Charity have received legal letters sent on behalf of council chief executive Damian Allen in relation to a proposed motion they had put forward to be debated in public.

Coun Charity said a letter from Mr Allen's solicitors demanded "a retraction, an apology and payment of legal costs". He said he regards the legal letter as an attempt “to silence legitimate scrutiny", rejects the claim and is considering his own legal action in response.

The proposed motion is yet to be made public but has been signed by 28 councillors.

The motion follows Coun Charity saying in a council meeting on April 2 that he intended to refer Mr Allen to a council body called the Chief Officers Investigatory Sub-Committee.

Doncaster Council, which has a political structure with a ruling Labour mayor and cabinet but a majority of councillors from Reform, has said the issue is a “personal matter” for the politically-neutral chief executive and not connected to the local authority.

Mr Allen did not respond to a request for comment. There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by Mr Allen.

The council has separately rejected the motion from being discussed at a forthcoming extraordinary council meeting where councillors are also set to debate rescinding a previous decision to provide £57m of borrowing for the DSA project.

Officers have previously warned that not approving the borrowing would “kill” the project. The borrowing facility was approved by councillors in November as a way of facilitating upfront spending on the project in advance of £160m devolution funding being delivered.

But a subsequent leak of the airport lease to The Yorkshire Post in January revealed a series of controversial clauses councillors and the public had previously been unaware of. Devolution funding controlled by South Yorkshire mayor Oliver Coppard will not be released until the lease is renegotiated, with no agreement yet confirmed.

The extraordinary meeting had been due to take place next Thursday, April 30, but has been pushed back to May 11 with no agenda yet published. Councillors were informed on Thursday that a report needs to be created for the meeting explaining the financial implications of rescinding the borrowing.

In a letter to the Reform UK councillors on Wednesday, executive director Phil Holmes said external legal advice had been taken about the separate motion concerning Mr Allen, adding: "I am rejecting it on the grounds that it is defamatory.”

He added: "It makes allegations about the conduct of officers, particularly the chief executive, which have not been investigated through any due process."

Mr Holmes added any allegations could be referred to the head of human resources for consideration by the chief officer's sub-committee.

Council policy advises against such motions going to full council as they could prejudice the disciplinary process.

Coun Charity said general concerns ranged from the lease giving landowner Peel the right to terminate if the council refused planning permissions for homes near the airport, to Peel taking 20 per cent of annual turnover.

He said he would not retract: "The people of Doncaster are owed answers about how £193 million of their money was committed."

Coun Ward said: "It's plain to see from anyone with business acumen that the airport is going in the wrong direction. I'm bewildered why we are getting this rebuttal and threats.”

He added: "We are 100 per cent for the airport but I'm not there to be writing blank cheques with public money."

The Yorkshire Post approached the council for a comment on the threat of legal action. The council said it wouldn't comment as it was a "personal matter".

Asked about the rejection of the motion, a spokesperson said: “In the event that there are complaints made concerning senior council officers, each council operates long-established processes to deal with such complaints.

"Council group leaders have been provided with the details of such processes. Those processes do not include discussions at council meetings.”

Earlier this week, Doncaster MP and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband accused Reform of “betraying” voters in South Yorkshire over DSA.

He said: “Reform went into the mayoral election saying they supported it. They went into the election as supporters of the airport, and now they're trying to kill it.”

Nigel Farage said earlier in the week that his councillors do support the principle of reopening, “but what they don’t want is masses more debt” for the council.

He added: “What they need to do is to find a private sector solution, to find private money that's prepared to take risk, which means, if it goes wrong, they lose. It's not about the airport itself. The principle we absolutely agree is necessary. It's just the way that it's done and what future liability it may hold.”