Fuming airport campaigner in fresh attack on Doncaster Tory MP after politician breaks ranks again

Save Doncaster Sheffield Airport campaigner and local businessman Mark Chadwick has repeatedly called on politicians from all political parties to work together to re-open the base which closed last November.

But after Don Valley MP Mr Fletcher took another swipe at Doncaster Council over a meeting called to discuss the latest developments being cancelled, Mr Chadwick accused the Tory’s stance as ‘totally unacceptable and ridiculous.’

He wrote: “I personally find your constant battle with our authorities, Doncaster Council, Doncaster Mayor Ros Jones and South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard to be unacceptable and totally ridiculous.

“Where's the cross party support, the joint effort to Save DSA?

“I never see our authorities calling you out or speaking publically against you.

“We have been involved with this issue since last summer when Peel announced the closure of DSA. You make no mention ever of the 23,000 plus supporters Save DSA or the community support that the DSA campaign has.

“I am a constituent of yours. Yet you have ignored e-mails that I have sent. You seem to ignore or don’t recognise others involved in this campaign, same as all your collegues and MPs in the House of Commons.

“Perhaps your time would be better spent there.

“You say there are meetings happening in Parliament yet we see nothing from these and have no public comment or words of support from anyone in Government.

“The general public, the campaigners, the people who lost their jobs, the businesses affected are all ignored by you and your colleagues.

“The only time you mention DSA is when you have an opportunity to score points. It never seems to be to promote or support.

“Now, I never have had any political views or wanted to have and I’m sure your job as an MP can be difficult at times, but the only way we can beat Peel and get this airport open isi if we all work together.”

The blistering attack from Mr Chadwick came after Mr Fletcher launched another tirade against City of Doncaster Council.

Under a post on Facebook headed ‘airport scrutiny in doubt’ he wrote: “As you know I called for the MP briefings to be resumed about the Airport. The Council were slow to do this but after some false starts they have been happening.

“Early on one briefing was cancelled with no consultation at all. The reason given was because Doncaster Council said there was nothing to report.

“I made the point strongly that even if this were so, it was an opportunity for elected members to ask questions and be given information. It’s an important way of ensuring that we are on the right track and stay on the right track.

“I accept that some MPs and mayors can’t attend every meeting. I am the only person who has attended every one. However I am sure that the reasons for not attending are good ones. I make no criticism of that or of anyone.

“The next meeting is due this Friday. The council have notified me that it is now cancelled because it clashes with a business meeting set up by Doncaster Chamber which I am a panellist at. They have not rescheduled it though. It is simply cancelled.

“What concerns me is that they make it clear that they will be cancelling further meetings and making these meetings less frequent.

"They say “we may look to reduce the frequency of these updates”. It seems that we are back at square one. It’s more than an update. It’s an opportunity to ask questions, to probe, to review how things are progressing.

“The CPO (compulsory purchase order) is too important to Doncaster to fail. It needs careful management and overview. I intend to do that as your Member of Parliament. I will be suggesting that I am given a personal fortnightly update on the airport. We need to keep the scrutiny going.”