Doncaster Sheffield Airport: council chief in no mood for naysayers
Quite what the equivalent of a red rag to a bull might be in the context of vexing a city council chief executive is perhaps something that varies from one local authority to another, depending on circumstances.
However, at the City of Doncaster the chiffon rouge of choice to wave in the direction of its Chief Executive Damian Allen, should you wish to get a reaction, is to question him on whether or not Doncaster Sheffield Airport will ever open its runway again.
“Not only is it going to happen, it is already happening,” is his terse response to the naysayers. To continue the analogy, his bullishness is to be admired, but having invited this newspaper onto the site for a walkaround, as well as a frank and honest update on progress, it is clear Mr Allen is not about to abort take-off.
On the form he was in in the company of The Yorkshire Post, Mr Allen’s dogged determination ought not not be readily mistaken for irritability. Frustration, perhaps, that some lease agreement clauses, as things stand, impede the viability prospects of the airport. Those frustrations are understandable; when this newspaper exclusively obtained a copy of the lease agreement between Doncaster Council and landowners Peel Holdings, it quickly became apparent that the headwinds blowing towards any chance of South Yorkshire’s airport reopening were close to unnavigable. Against that backdrop, Mr Allen sought to reassure the taxpayers whose money will be propping up this project. He may not have reopened an airport before, he told readers of The Yorkshire Post, but he has worked on projects of more complexity, capital cost and end value – if not quite the same amount of turbulence.