Deal to bring Doncaster Sheffield Airport into public ownership approved by South Yorkshire political leaders
“Thank you to the public of South Yorkshire. They have been clear from day one of their support for this.”
Doncaster Sheffield Airport will be brought into public ownership after a proposed deal to purchase the site was approved by the region’s political leadership.
Officials at the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) will now wrap up the deal with landowner the Peel Group, with details of the purchase, including the cost, to be confirmed publicly once it has been signed.
Speaking during the SYMCA Board meeting today, Oliver Coppard, the Mayor of South Yorkshire, said: “Thank you to the public of South Yorkshire. They have been clear from day one of their support for this.
“That support has been incredibly effective in making sure we felt confident in taking that step forward.”
As part of the proposed purchase, approved unanimously by Mayor Coppard and the leaders of South Yorkshire’s four local authorities, the SYMCA will take a ownership of the airport freehold, as well as a nearby ‘innovation quarter’.
The combined authority also takes a controlling stake in Fly Doncaster Ltd – the arms-length company established by the City of Doncaster Council to operate the airport upon reopening.
In comments ahead of approving the purchase, the Mayor of Doncaster Ros Jones said the deal represented the ‘next chapter’ in the reopening of DSA and referenced the immense public interest in the project.
“I get asked on a daily basis about DSA, whether that is in the supermarket or the pub, by people wanting to know when it will be open,” she said.
“From day one, I pledged to do everything I could to reopen the airport, not for political gain or career progression.”
Councillor Fran Belbin, the Labour leader of Sheffield City Council, called public ownership of DSA a ‘fantastic opportunity’.
Board papers revealed the purchase deal came after renegotiations of Doncaster Council’s agreed lease with Peel had ‘faltered’, with a solution to the controversial ‘turnover rent’ clause unable to be found.
The South Yorkshire Mayor said he stood by his assessment that the lease was a ‘good deal at the time’, saying if the 2024 agreement had not been signed, staff now employed at the airport and the purchase of the site would not be happening.