Exclusive:Doncaster Sheffield Airport: Reform's Richard Tice claims land can be acquired with compulsory purchase order

Mr Tice said he was sending a “crystal clear” message to the owner Peel Group: “We’re buying the freehold, one way or the other.”

This appears to mark a change in policy for the party, as in Barnsley last week, Nigel Farage told reporters he wanted a “private sector solution” for DSA. But, Mr Tice said yesterday the airport was a “strategic asset" which needs “public involvement”.

Doncaster’s Labour Mayor Ros Jones - who has claimed commercial flights could take off next year - previously said that a CPO “would have been strongly challenged, taken years, with no guarantee of success”.

Mr Tice, Mr Farage’s number two, was speaking with a political row once again engulfing the reopening project.

Labour politicians have accused Reform of trying to “kill off” the airport reopening, after its councillors have called an extraordinary meeting on May 11 to reassess the £57m loan, which has been used to frontload the funding.

Ms Jones leads the executive as the directly-elected mayor, while Reform has a majority on the council.

A demonstration organised by the Trades Union Congress is being held at the airport today over Reform’s attempt to rescind the loan, which it says risks 5,000 direct and indirect jobs.

Reform leader Coun Craig Ward has said his party “supports the reopening of DSA”, however he has claimed the borrowing was approved in November “without full material facts” about the lease, signed with Peel.

A subsequent leak of the airport lease to The Yorkshire Post in January revealed a series of controversial clauses councillors and the public had previously been unaware of.

Devolution funding controlled by South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard will not be released until the lease is renegotiated, with no agreement yet confirmed.

Mr Coppard’s office has previously said the “complex lease structure” was one of the factors that had “restricted private investor appetite” in the project.

Concerns about break clauses “in favour of the landowner” on achieving passenger number targets above the most optimistic forecasts and “clarifying points in relation to turnover rent” are among the key areas being discussed in renegotiation talks with landowner and previous DSA operator Peel.

Mr Tice claimed that this showed that “Labour have essentially already pressed the pause button”, adding: “They're right, because this is a very bad deal as is currently negotiated.”

“We have an alternative solution, which would put this on a much, much better footing and make it sustainable and durable and give it a much better chance of attracting private capital in due course,” he said.

“That is the airport has to be acquired, the freehold has to be bought from Peel, the owner.

“That can be done one of two ways - that can either be done through negotiation or it can be done through CPO.”

A CPO is when the state acquires land for a major infrastructure project - such as HS2 - without the landowner’s permission.

Mr Tice said Reform had assessed it and believes it is possible as it is “in the public interest for the public sector to earn the freehold of this airport”, citing the length of the runway, the location and the history of the site.

“If this Labour Party across those three levels [of government] doesn't have the courage to do that, a Reform government after the next general election will.

“Peel need to understand that - crystal clear - we will buy the freehold either by negotiation or by CPO.” Peel declined to comment.

Labour Mayor Ms Jones recently said that the lease agreement, signed with Peel, “effectively killed off any chance of a successful CPO”.

She explained: “Peel refused our offer to buy the freehold of the airport site, and any CPO would have been strongly challenged, taken years, with no guarantee of success and paying compensation costs in the eventuality of CPO being refused.”

Meanwhile, Mr Coppard added: “Any CPO process would take years to pursue through the courts, with no guarantees, but if it is successful would result in an inevitable and significant bill for the taxpayer.

“It is not a mechanism for the council to take control of DSA ‘on the cheap’.

“Richard Tice’s proposal would cause huge delays, mean dozens of people already working at the airport would be laid off, halt any and all momentum towards reopening and not save the taxpayer any money.”

It comes as an aviation services and engineering company based at DSA says it intends to open a second hangar at the site once reopening occurs.

2Excel Aviation, which already has around 200 people at DSA, has revealed the ambition after landing a Boeing 727 oil spill response aircraft at DSA yesterday.

It was the first large jet to arrive at DSA since its closure in 2022. These are some of the prospective jobs, which the TUC says could be put at risk if the loan to reopen the airport is pulled.

The TUC and other unions have called for Reform councillors to “honour their promise” to reopen DSA, warning that billions of pounds in regional growth is now at risk. They are holding a “save our airport” protest outside DSA today.

TUC Yorkshire regional secretary Dave Pike said: “Reform looked voters in the face and promised that DSA would be at the heart of regenerating Doncaster and the wider region. We expect them to honour that promise.

“There is a well worked out plan with backing across party lines, that is now being unpicked and put at risk while they play politics with what is a really important decision for South Yorkshire.

“Reopening DSA would create thousands of good quality, union jobs and deliver a huge boost to the local economy.

“Walking away now would mean wasting money already spent, putting all those on the line and squandering a once in a generation opportunity for this region.”