Campaign attacks funding for airport link

The £18m grant from the Regional Growth Fund for the project, awarded last month, was the largest grant given to any authority in the country.

The news was met with joy from many, with Doncaster’s mayor Peter Davies saying it would “transform Doncaster from being depicted as a disadvantaged town into one able to take advantage of all its natural assets and transport links.”

However, campaign group the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) South Yorkshire yesterday aired their opposition to the news.

Transport spokesman Anne Robinson said: “We’re incredibly disappointed about this. There is absolutely no need for more road building in Doncaster – even the masterplan for Robin Hood Airport states that the existing road network has the capacity to accommodate more development.”

CPRE South Yorkshire has been campaigning against the FARRRS (Finningley and Rossington Regeneration Route Scheme) project for almost a decade.

The plans involve building a single-carriageway road to link the M18 motorway with the airport, which will also be accessible from a new housing development in the east that has recently been given planning permission, as well as the impending Rossington Inland Port in the west.

Ms Robinson added: “We all now know that new roads just generate more traffic.”

John King, planning officer at CPRE South Yorkshire, said: “We realise that these are hard economic times and that business leaders have set a lot of store by this scheme. But we really do have grave concerns that it will set a precedent by allowing road building in a countryside policy area. It goes against Doncaster Council’s own plans for protecting our countryside.”