Doncaster Sheffield Airport purchase to be funded by ‘at least some’ of Doncaster’s £160m gainshare funding

The deal to buy Doncaster Sheffield Airport from the Peel Group will be funded by at least ‘some’ of the £160million in ‘gainshare funding’ allocated to Doncaster, the South Yorkshire Mayor has said.

Mayor Oliver Coppard confirmed the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) would be purchasing Doncaster Sheffield Airport (DSA) from Peel at an event with the Mayor of Doncaster, Ros Jones, on Monday, October 19, 2026.

The deal is subject to approval by the SYMCA Board on October 27, 2026, and details of how much the authority would pay are being held until after that decision.

However, in an interview after the announcement, Mayor Coppard did confirm that funding for the airport purchase would include Doncaster’s allocation of SYMCA ‘gainshare funding’ – money that must be invested in projects which will create growth.

He said: “Yeah… So some of that money at least will be used for this purpose, absolutely, which is creating jobs and growth right here in South Yorkshire, in Doncaster. That’s what we were given the gainshare for.”

Agenda papers published for the SYMCA Board meeting on October 27, 2026, confirmed the authority would also ‘take on borrowing’ to complete the transaction.

Councillor Howard Rimmer, Reform UK Doncaster leader, said his party supports the airport reopening, but residents ‘deserve transparency and accountability’.

Irwen Martin, Reform UK Doncaster chairman, added: “Labour claims to support cross-party working, yet Reform councillors have been kept in the dark. Supporting the airport does not mean accepting a deal without knowing its price, funding source or risks to local taxpayers.”

The South Yorkshire Mayor said that ‘control’ of DSA would pass to the SYMCA, whilst Fly Doncaster Ltd, the company set up by Doncaster Council to operate the airport, would now be co-run by both authorities.

Mayor Coppard said: “Doncaster Council are a really important partner, of course they are, not least because they are the planning authority, because they have taken this project to this point, but now we’re going to bring in the expertise from my side and working with the Government and the private sector to do even more.”

Ros Jones, the Mayor of Doncaster and leader of Doncaster Council, said: “Some politicians saw this airport as a campaigning tool, with lukewarm words of support and some wanting to simply throw political insults rather than putting politics aside for Doncaster.

“From day one, I pledged to do everything I could to save this airport, not for political gain or career progression, but because I truly believe that is the right thing for Doncaster.”

Mayor Jones’ comments come after opposition parties in Doncaster reacted over the weekend to the shock news that this purchase was coming.

It included assertions from local Conservatives that purchasing the airport was touted by the former Don Valley MP, Nick Fletcher, some years ago.

Mayor Coppard said: “This isn’t a day for party politics, I know Reform have had their say as well. This is a good day for South Yorkshire.

“It wasn’t on the table when we first encountered this problem four years ago, it wasn’t even on the table a year ago. If we’d got into the process of a compulsory purchase order that would have taken years to get to even this point.”