The South Yorkshire mayor has delivered an update on the re-opening of Doncaster Sheffield Airport

South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard has revealed he has been in talks in both the United States and China to bring business to the region as Doncaster Sheffield Airport prepares to re-open.

The Labour mayor says work is ongoing to re-open DSA as he delivered an update to Save DSA campaigner Mark Chadwick in the It’s Not Terminal podcast.

Mr Coppard said a regional business party had recently held talks in China and that ongoing negogations were taking place with a number of groups in the States.

And he admitted that while there are “risks and challenges” in re-opening DSA, he is determined to make the project work.

Mr Coppard said: “We are looking at China and the States.

Discussing a recent visit to Chengdu in China and his American talks, he added: “St Louis, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Virginia, there’s massive opportunity in the States.

“We’re moving forward. All the pieces of the jigsaw are fitting into place.

“Yes, there are risks and challenges, but I’m determined to make it work.”

Discussing the recent move by Reform councillors to revisit previously agreed funding, which was eventually voted through, Mr Coppard joked: “There’s been some turbulence hasn’t there?

“If they hadn’t backed it, it would have killed the project.

“I thought they were full steam ahead to cancel that money and we would have been back where we started. It created a lot of uncertainity we didn’t need.

“But we’re in a good place and we’re moving forward.”

“The more we keep politics away from this, the better off everyone will be.

“My view is that people have got to work together to make sure the airport goes forward in the most positive way possible.”

Added Mr Coppard: “This is not risk-free - I’ve said that from day one. Of course there’s a risk - but the opportunity is unparalelled in South Yorkshire when it comes to jobs and growth,

“I want the airport to succeed and thrive. I want it to make a load of money for people,” but he added: “We can’t subsidise it forever. It can’t be a blank cheque.

“We’ve got to have a ceiling on the amount of money we can contribute.”

You can listen to the podcast in full here - https://www.buzzsprout.com/2373243