Doncaster Sheffield Airport: Rachel Reeves' support can 'change the picture' on reopening, says Oliver Coppard

A Mayoral Combined Authority board meeting on Tuesday afternoon agreed to delay a final decision on whether it will provide the funding to the council until summer to allow “independent advice and assurance” to be received over concerns about the significant financial risks of the plan to the public sector following a failure to secure private investment.

However, the authority has agreed to provide an interim £10m to Doncaster Council to “enter into transactions and fund costs” relating to the project in the hope of maintaining the current ambition of reopening the airport in spring next year. A further £10m is due to be signed off by Doncaster Council’s cabinet on Wednesday morning as part of the same strategy.

The mayor’s board backed a plan which said its £10m contribution would be reimbursed from Doncaster’s future devolution funding but added that “in the event that Government funding is made available to support these costs, this funding will be used in the first instance”.

It comes after Chancellor Rachel Reeves said on January 29 that Labour would work with local leaders to “support their efforts” to reopen the site, which closed in 2022.

The council had previously announced plans to loan Fly Doncaster £105m at low rates of interest equating to a £89.7m grant while it has since revealed operational and management services will be provided to Fly Doncaster by Munich Airport International.

But last week, a Doncaster Council report put the costs of reopening the airport at an increased £145m. The report, which is being discussed by Doncaster Council’s cabinet on Wednesday, does not make clear whether the further £40m will be in further loan spending on top of the initial £105m or from alternative sources of funding.

Speaking at Tuesday’s mayoral meeting, Mr Coppard said: "It is really important we now grasp that opportunity of the Chancellor’s - and indeed the Government’s – support for Doncaster Sheffield Airport.

"I’ve been in touch with her privately, she has come to Doncaster and shown her support there. It is good to hear from the Chancellor that she is so supportive of South Yorkshire and our plans for sustainable aviation.”

During the subsequent discussion about the plan to provide £10m to the council in the interim ahead of a final decision, Mr Coppard added: “I’m acutely conscious about Rachel Reeves’s recent statement and how that might hopefully change the picture and gather Government support for our airport. We have a significant amount of work still to do to reassure ourselves and some members of the public but really keen to crack on with that work.

"This decision today will give us the opportunity to carry on that work and make sure we are in the best possible place by summer to take a decision.”

The £10m provided by the mayor’s office takes its total confirmed spending on the project to over £16m so far.

A question was submitted to the meeting by Conservative Doncaster Councillor Jane Cox, who asked what criteria would be used to assess the financial viability of the business case and also questioned Doncaster Council’s Labour leader Ros Jones on what safeguards are in place for the public investment if the airport does not meet its economic projections.

Mr Coppard said : "Given the complexity and risk around this project, further work will be undertaken to consider the commercial viability of the proposal. The detail of this additional commission has not yet been finalised and we are working at pace to get that finalised as the report recommends further independent advice and assurance will be undertaken. The MCA require confidence that identified risks can be appropriately managed in both the shorter and longer term.

"We are custodians of public money and are determined to make sure public money is spent well as people would fully expect.”

Mayor Jones said “a range of mitigations have been considered”.

Gareth Sutton, Mayor Coppard’s Executive Director of Resources & Investment, told the meeting that risks of the project include “the inherent challenges of recapturing market share”. They also relate to the 125-year lease the council has signed on the site with owners Peel.

After the mayoral board voted in favour of the interim funding, Mayor Jones said: “I’d like to thank colleagues for their continued support and financial backing. We can now continue our plans to pace to reopen our airport in spring, hopefully, 2026. I look forward to future outcomes this summer.”

DSA made losses in every financial year of its operation between 2005 and 2022 under private ownership. Around £250m was spent on assets and covering losses over the period but the site never returned a profit.

But council bosses argue the scheme to reopen the site "has the potential to be the largest investment ever made” by the council and mayor’s office and “South Yorkshire has no other opportunities of this scale in its investment pipeline”. It is claimed the reopening of the airport would be the catalyst for wider regeneration work around the airport which the council say could ultimately create 5,000 jobs.