Why Doncaster Sheffield Airport's £176m reopening is cleared for take-off: Chris Burn

I was there as Mr Coppard held a press conference yesterday to confirm he will be voting in favour of a plan to release up to £160m towards the scheme after his officers formally recommended the project goes ahead in advance of a crunch public meeting next Tuesday. The new money comes in addition to £16m already spent on getting to this point.

The plan will see Doncaster Council operate the airport via a council-run company after attempts to bring in a private investor fell through last year.

The mayor had delayed a decision for months to allow for further analysis to take place and the board papers released late last night following his press conference give an indication of the hard work that has been taking place behind the scenes to get the project to a place where it could get a green light.

It reveals that Doncaster Council’s ‘overly optimistic’ business case had suggested the project would generate £9 for every £1 spent whereas the revised calculation puts the potential benefit at £2 for every £1 spent; still a good return but clearly far below what was originally being indicated.

Meanwhile, lease renegotiations have been taking place with landowner Peel to reduce risks around break clauses contained within the original deal.

It means the mayor is now happy to go ahead.

His office has always shown caution around the project, even when getting substantial criticism around the delays to a decision, and Mr Coppard clearly wouldn't want to be seen as prejudging how next week’s vote will go.

But a basic reading of the political realities around the vote - and simple maths - indicates which way the wind is blowing.

The vote is being taken by Mr Coppard and the four council leaders of Doncaster, Sheffield, Rotherham and Barnsley and can be passed by majority decision.

Doncaster Council mayor Ros Jones has repeatedly said reopening the airport is her number one priority so will be an undoubted yes, with Mr Coppard now a confirmed yes.

So it would require each of the three other council leaders - who are all also Labour politicians - to vote against the scheme for it not to happen.

Doing so would be extraordinary for several reasons.

They would not only be going against a formal officer recommendation, the region’s mayor, their Doncaster counterpart and Labour’s Doncaster MPs, they would also be going against the wishes of Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves who have said they want the airport to reopen.

Not only that but they would be going against their own previous public positions on the issue.

The leaders of Rotherham and Barnsley Chris Read and Sir Stephen Houghton campaigned against the closure of the airport in 2022 (along with then Sheffield Council leader Terry Fox). Current Sheffield Council leader Tom Hunt has also previously spoken of the ‘compelling growth case’ for reopening the airport (albeit at a point where the economic benefits being mooted were Doncaster Council’s more optimistic figures).

In short, for the vote to be a ‘no’ next Tuesday it will take an extraordinary and deeply unlikely political u-turn which would cause a dramatic fallout locally and be an embarrassment for Labour nationally given the Prime Minister and Chancellor’s very public backing for the scheme.

It was always the case that the advice of Mr Coppard’s officials and his view would be crucial to whether the airport project happened. Now they have shown their hand, the path has been cleared for take-off.

Chris Burn is Yorkshire Post business and features editor. To sign up to the Yorkshire Post’s free business newsletter, click on this link.