Doncaster Sheffield Airport: Everything we learned from Doncaster Sheffield Airport loan agenda papers

Reform UK announced its intention to rescind the loan, after the lease between the council and the DSA landowner, the Peel Group, was leaked to journalists in January 2026.

The lease contained a number of clauses which proved controversial and Reform UK Doncaster determined they were not equipped with the full facts before they approved the loan in November 2025.

Labour Party figures across South Yorkshire, including the region’s mayor, Oliver Coppard, warned that rescinding the loan would “kill” the airport.

Nigel Farage and Richard Tice, two senior Reform UK MPs, have waded in and suggested their councillors would prefer private investment to reopen DSA, rather than the publicly funded route being undertaken by Doncaster Council and the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA), through the arms-length company, Fly Doncaster Ltd.

Executive officials within Doncaster Council published a 33-page report ahead of the vote to ensure councillors can make an “informed decision” on the loan.

This is everything we have learnt from the report.

Will the reopening be “killed” if the loan is rescinded?

There is not a definitive answer on this in the report. However, one message is clear – if the loan is rescinded, and alternative funding is not found urgently, the reopening will not continue in its current format.

It states that without alternative funding the site “would have no future as an airport”.

The papers also say that “it would not be possible” for alternative funding, whether that’s other public money pots or private investment, to be found quick enough for the reopening to continue on its current timelines.

However, in an interview with the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) on April 29, 2026, Mayor Ros Jones, who holds executive authority in Doncaster, said she would not give up on reopening if the loan is rescinded.

How much will it cost the council if the loan is rescinded?

According to the papers, published as part of the agenda for the May 11, 2026, extraordinary general meeting of council, the cost to the local authority in quantified future liabilities will be £48.6m.

However, this does not include potential costs for early contract termination with various partners involved in the reopening, as well as redundancy costs for dozens of staff who have already been hired to senior and executive roles at Fly Doncaster Ltd and DSA.

A lot of the details of the additional costs have been kept “pink”, meaning they are exempt from being published publicly and are not available for the public to access or see.

The report outlines that Doncaster Council would not be stuck in the lease with Peel for the full 125-years. The break clause linked to freight and passenger targets in 2031 would allow both the council and Peel to end the agreement.

It additionally adds that an early termination of the lease, before 2031 could be negotiated with Peel.

How will the council pay the costs if the reopening is to end?

The agenda report makes clear that the near £160m in funding approved by the SYMCA in September 2025 would likely not be able to be used to meet these closure costs.

Wording in the funding from the SYMCA states it is “subject to the entering into of a Funding Agreement, funding is approved to enable the re‑opening and operation of DSA at a total level of up to £159.52m”.

It means the council would need to find alternative funding in order to pay the costs related to fully closing and ending the airport project.

The report states: “Savings, additional borrowing (funded by Council revenue resources) or other budgetary adjustments would be required to ensure that the commitments are funded on a sustainable and affordable basis.”

Most seriously, the report warns that if this funding is not found, there is an increase risk authority’s section 151 officers, CFO Faye Tyas, would need to consider actions under section 114 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 – which is triggered when a council faces “bankruptcy”.

What happens if the reopening continues?

The reopening of DSA can continue if alternative funding to the £57m loan is found urgently. However, due to the fact finding alternative funding quickly is deemed “not possible” the project would be delayed.

Agenda papers state that a 12-month delay to the reopening could see DSA lose £36.1m in income by 2034/25.

The papers did reveal a further pushback on the estimated start date for passenger flights for DSA. If the loan is not rescinded and the project continues as planned, passenger flights will not return to DSA until Easter 2028 – a further delay to the previous estimate from Doncaster Council of Winter 2027/28.

However, it states that if that start point is not met, it does not simply move to the next month and would slip to the next winter season or summer season.

In November 2025, Mayor Ros Jones released a statement with the former Reform UK leader, Councillor Guy Aston, agreeing to begin the process seeking private investment within six months of airspace certification from the Civil Aviation Authority – due in May 2027.

The May 11 agenda papers also reveal that it is “anticipated” the costs related to the £57m loan would “ be funded in full by the gainshare grant and previous CDC budget allocations”

What is happening with the renegotiation of the lease between Doncaster Council and the Peel Group?

Councillors and parties interested in DSA have long been awaiting updates on the renegotiation of the lease for the airport site.

The SYMCA required clauses relating to turnover rent, traffic-linked break clauses which “favour” the landowner, and others to be renegotiated.

The agenda papers for the loan vote on May 11, 2026, confirm the renegotiation the passenger and freight targets is completed.

However, the documents to implement this change have not been signed due to the uncertainty relating to DSA’s funding as a result of the upcoming vote, and negotiations relating to the 20 per cent turnover rent clause being on hold.

What processes did Doncaster Council go through in its attempts to find a private investor for Doncaster Sheffield Airport?

The agenda papers lay out the “complex and detailed” procurement process undertaken in 2023 and 2024, before the lease between Peel and Doncaster Council was signed.

It resulted in FP Airports Ltd (a UK company) ending up as the council’s preferred bidder, in partnership with Munich Airports International (MAI).

However, an “enhanced financial due diligence raised concerns about the availability of private sector funding identified” and the council had to turn elsewhere.

The report states that due to the “challenging timescales” involved, it began to explore public funding options, as well as alternative private options.

It states the work undertaken for alternative private options “did not identify any credible alternative funding options, and the financial plan could not accommodate the associated high-interest rate costs being proposed by one of the funding options”.

These alternative options would have included a consortium reported in the media in late 2025 who, as told by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), claimed to have offered £100m for the airport and to fund numerous other aspects.

After this, professional advice given to the council stated the “optimal point” for private investment would now be later in the reopening process “once key risks have been mitigated and operations have commenced, including the start of passenger flights”.