Doncaster Sheffield Airport: Spending £160m on reopening 'is investment in future of South Yorkshire', Oliver Coppard claims
Spending up to £160m of public money on the reopening of Doncaster Sheffield Airport represents “an investment in the future of South Yorkshire”, Oliver Coppard has claimed.
The airport made losses in every year of operation between 2005 and 2022 under the private ownership of Peel, collectively adding up to almost £180m.
But it is now set to be reopened and run by Doncaster Council via a council-owned company with the hope it will be a catalyst for wider regeneration work around the site and the development of neighbouring logistics park Gateway East into a home for leading sustainable aviation and advanced manufacturing companies.
South Yorkshire mayor Oliver Coppard has now confirmed he will back the release of devolution funding he controls to support the project. The Mayoral Combined Authority Board will vote on the funding next Tuesday but with the mayor's backing it is essentially a done deal. When asked by The Yorkshire Post whether there is an expected point where DSA will break even and become no longer reliant on public funding, Mr Coppard said that is the “ambition”.
But he added the project should be assessed in terms of its broader aim of the airport being a catalyst for jobs and investment.
He said: “We are going to be investing in the future of the airport on the basis that it isn’t a cost to taxpayers and spending taxpayers’ money; it is an investment in the future of South Yorkshire in jobs, growth and opportunity. I’m really determined we absolutely commit to that project in the long-term.
“That’s what we can do that the private sector isn’t always able to do and why we are able to take that long-term holistic approach.
“It is about a strategic fit with the ambitions of South Yorkshire around things like sustainable aviation and advanced manufacturing. We are determined to put South Yorkshire at the forefront of those technologies and that’s why this investment is so important.
“In other parts of the country, where airports have been reopened, other people that have invested have focused on things like passenger numbers as the signal of success or whether the taxpayer is still investing in that infrastructure.
“I’m not saying that. We will be investing in the future of DSA and the future of South Yorkshire. It is not all about passenger numbers, it is about the wider site, the wider opportunity for the whole of the region.”
Mr Coppard added: “Success is essentially about, ‘Can we create long-term opportunity for people in South Yorkshire, can we create a thriving airport at the heart of South Yorkshire that creates jobs and opportunities in the industries of the future?’
“We invest in all sorts of ways in South Yorkshire, in things like Supertram and the skills system. These all investments in the future – this is not us simply investing money so people can go on their holidays from Doncaster Sheffield Airport. Of course those things are important but it is about the wider ambition for the whole site and the whole of South Yorkshire.”