Merit in the idea of sharing the risk on reopening costs for Doncaster Sheffield Airport

Senior Tory councillor Jane Cox says other areas of South Yorkshire should share the risk over the reopening of DSA, by contributing parts of their devolution funding towards the project.

The Tories say that Sheffield, Barnsley and Doncaster should all put money towards the costs of the reopening from their Gainshare devolution funding. This would spread the risk and free up some devolution funding for Doncaster to spend elsewhere.

Doncaster Council’s attempts to go it alone are laudable and it deserves credit for progressing this far. However, the equation has clearly changed, from the early ambitions of finding a private operator to it being run by a company owned by the council. And the higher estimated cost of reopening of £145m has now surpassed the £138m of Gainshare funding Doncaster Council has to work with.

Ultimately, this once again drives home the need for wider support from the Government. Reopening the airport is not going to be straightforward or cheap. By trying to set the Government apart from the previous Tory government on DSA, Chancellor Rachel Reeves must now support the reopening. That includes providing funding support.

Other areas pooling their devolution funding won’t be popular and there are still question marks over whether that would be sufficient. The site has potential that goes way beyond just passenger aviation so it's understandable why local leaders are keen to get DSA reopened but caution is needed.