Doncaster Sheffield Airport: Miliband and Farage weigh in on scheme's future ahead of key vote
Ed Miliband and Nigel Farage have traded blows over Doncaster Sheffield Airport’s reopening plans, ahead of a bombshell council meeting which will decide its future.
The Energy Secretary accused Mr Farage and Reform UK of “betraying” the people of South Yorkshire, after its councillors called for a meeting to reconsider the approval of a vital £57m loan for the reopening.
Speaking to The Yorkshire Post in Sheffield, the Doncaster North MP accused Mr Farage’s party of trying to “kill off” plans for the scheme.
The extraordinary meeting to reassess the loan, which was approved by councillors in November, is now scheduled for 11 May, after being pushed back from late April.
Sources indicated it was moved to prepare additional information ahead of the knife-edge vote.
The £57m loan has been used to set up Fly Doncaster, the arms-length body which is reopening the airport, and frontload the funding to ensure the project can get up and running, with flights planned for next year.
It will be repaid by £160m in devolved funding from South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard, that will be allocated incrementally over a 50-year-period.
Senior Labour figures in the region have warned that a reversal on the £57m loan could bring an end to the reopening plans.
Mr Miliband said: "What's happening is that Nigel Farage and Reform are trying to kill Doncaster Sheffield airport off, and I don't think that's what the people of Doncaster or South Yorkshire want.
“People have made it clear election after election that they really care about this.
“I know from knocking on doors in my own constituency that people see it both as a substantive and symbolic issue for the region, and for Doncaster.
“I think what's really bad about this is that 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.
“I think Nigel Farage and Reform are betraying the people of Doncaster and South Yorkshire in what they're doing.”
Mr Farage has insisted that his party support reopening the airport. Speaking to reporters in Barnsley on Wednesday, he said that “of course” the councillors want to reopen the site, “but what they don’t want is masses more debt”.
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.
“So 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.”
Doncaster Council initially tried to find a private investor, however it said there were no suitable bids and instead wants to get the project up and running with public funding.
A number of British airports - including Manchester, Stansted and Teesside - are at least partially owned by local authorities.
Doncaster Council chief executive Damian Allen indicated he anticipated substantial private investor interest in DSA once the reopened site is turning a profit - which is expected to occur in the mid-2030s.
Reform UK Doncaster deputy leader, Coun Jason Charity, previously said that councillors did not have all the information needed to make the decision on the loan.
Amongst the issues raised by Reform is a lease between Doncaster Council and land owner Peel Group.
A copy of the lease, revealed by The Yorkshire Post, showed that under the current terms, 20 per cent of the turnover produced by the airport could be paid to Peel.
Sources involved with reopening the airport said this would not be triggered as it would involve the council making a profit on the scheme.
Mr Coppard is currently renegotiating the lease with Peel, and his devolved funding is incumbent on several aspects being changed.