Doncaster Sheffield Airport: Owner accused of working to make airport ‘unusable and unsellable’

Mayor of Doncaster Ros Jones said Peel Group’s actions are “totally unacceptable”, as discussions about a potential takeover are ongoing, and she is considering legal action.

The company has decided to shut the airport, which employs about 800 people, due to “a fundamental lack of financial viability”.

The Government and local leaders are urging the owner to sell Doncaster Sheffield Airport (DSA) to another operator so it can remain open.

But Peel Group said it has already begun winding down operations and “facilitating an orderly managed closure” of the airport, as it has not recieved a “credible proposal” from any investors.

Ms Jones said: “We have been made aware that Peel has apparently started to degrade the site by stripping out critical assets to the operation of the airport therefore potentially making it unusable and unsellable.

“This is totally unacceptable when we have brought potential buyers to their door and conversations are ongoing.

“So unless Peel confirms today they will not do anything to effectively wind down the site, then I have instructed Doncaster Council officers to go to the courts for an injunction to stop this.

“I have written to Peel setting this legal action out and that they must pause the airport closure so a sale can be agreed and jobs saved."

Peel Group has been approached for comment.

Ms Jones previously said the council would use a Compulsory Purchase Order to buy the site without the owner’s consent, if no agreement can be reached over the airport’s future, but this would take up to two years and not prevent the closure.

She also said the council’s offer to provide Peel Group with £7m to underwrite losses for up to two years “remains on the table”.

A Peel Group spokeswoman said: “DSA has begun a process of winding down the provision of aviation services and facilitating an orderly managed closure in close consultation with the regulatory bodies and in full compliance with our responsibilities.

"Peel Group has met with every party that the local authority has made an introduction to who have been willing to meet.

"Despite this, no credible proposal regarding the ownership of or addressing the lack of financial viability of DSA has yet been provided. In addition, DSA has received no approaches from any new airline to operate from the airport.”

She added: “Throughout DSA's operation, no airline has ever been turned away and, in fact, significant financial incentivisation has been paid to those new airlines that have commenced operations from the airport.”

She also said the company has invested more than £250m in the airport over the last 25 years, but it has never made a profit.

It comes after around 1,000 people staged a demonstration against the closure on Saturday and Labour MPs urged the Government to intervene in the House of Commons on Monday night.

Transport Minister Katherine Fletcher said the Government has told Peel Group to “look seriously at commercial interest” and accept taxpayer-funded loans if it needs more time to discuss takeover deals

But she also said Doncaster Council South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMA) could bring the airport under public control.

She told MPs there are a number of publicly owned airports in the UK, including Manchester Airport and Teesside International Airport, which are controlled by councils or combined authorities.

However, Labour's Shadow Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said SYMA and local councils cannot buy shares in the airport, because the owners are “refusing to sell”.

“They are willing to let the airport close, infrastructure be degraded and any chance of it being opened in the future removed,” she said.

She has called on the Government to use powers set out in the Civil Contingency Act 2004 to keep the airport open, but it has refused.