We need to learn how to avoid another repeat of the closure of Doncaster Sheffield Airport - Oliver Coppard

Even so, just four days after it was voted the best airport in the UK, Peel began to close DSA. Despite the best efforts of everyone involved, a key piece of regional – if not national – infrastructure lies idle.

We continue to be approached by investors interested in DSA. With widespread public support, Doncaster Council are now exercising the only option that remains; a compulsory purchase order to take the site into public ownership. Unlike the situation faced by the Mayor of Teesside, here in South Yorkshire, Peel refused to sell the airport so that another operator might succeed where they failed.

The fight is not over. But it should never have been a fight in the first place. Despite the many millions of pounds of public money we invested in the surrounding area, so DSA could become a thriving, regional airport, we had no control over its future. We had no levers to pull on to keep our airport open, no veto over decisions taken by owners more interested in the wealth of shareholders in Saudi Arabia than the health of our communities.

That can’t be right. We invested public money so a private company could succeed. There is no doubt we need a vibrant, dynamic and bigger private sector in South Yorkshire. I want companies to come here and grow, and I’m happy to support businesses that want to create jobs and wealth here in our communities.

But the balance has tipped too far against us. If we’re going to invest taxpayers’ money in private companies who want to develop and own key infrastructure, then those companies must be accountable to the communities in which they exist. That’s why I have commissioned this inquiry, so we can understand what needs to change to stop situations like the one we faced with DSA happening again.

The inquiry will be truly independent, its chair, the former High Sheriff of South Yorkshire, Martin McKervey will select its members and they will define the terms of reference. It will come back to me with actionable recommendations I can take to the government, offering advice on what changes need to be made to the law to give local leaders like me the opportunity to act on behalf of my community.

That our communities should have more of a say feels largely uncontroversial to me, and to so many of the people who fought so hard to keep DSA open.

Understanding how we might rebalance the relationship between the public and private sector could not be more urgent or important, because the failure of the markets to deliver decent services could not be more apparent. From our trains to our football clubs, for too long our communities have been locked out, our needs side-lined. My own view, which I will set out when I offer evidence to the Inquiry, is that further devolution of powers must be part of the answer. The government has said they want to ‘level up’ our country, and they want to offer communities like ours the opportunity to take charge of our destiny. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I think that’s the right approach.

That may mean a ‘golden share’ held by local leaders like me, giving communities veto rights over certain decisions, or it may mean a locally-led and legally-mandated process before significant infrastructure can be closed, fundamentally changed or sold off at the first sign of trouble.

The case of Doncaster Sheffield Airport has shown that we cannot rely on help from Westminster. We repeatedly asked the Government in London to use their powers under the Civil Contingencies Act to save the airport, but they steadfastly refused. Even after then Prime Minister, Liz Truss, promised to step-in, we were left to fight alone; without the powers or money we needed to really make a difference. I never had the powers to force Peel to keep DSA airport open, slow down or pause its closure, or sell it to us or anyone else. That has been a source of great frustration for me. The Compulsory Purchase now being pursued by Doncaster Council with our support is not guaranteed to succeed, and even if it does the road to re-opening DSA is a long and expensive one.

I was just three months into my term when Peel Airports Group announced their ‘review’ of DSA. I’m determined that we learn the lessons from our experience, and do what we can to stop it happening again.

Oliver Coppard is the Mayor of South Yorkshire.