Mayor responds to "baffling" complaints he is re-opening airport to be "politically popular"
South Yorkshire mayor Oliver Coppard has hit back at criticism saying he is only backing the re-opening of Doncaster Sheffield Airport to be “politically popular,” saying he finds the feedback “baffling.”
Last week, Mayor Coppard and South Yorkshire’s four council leaders agreed to a £160 million funding package to re-open DSA which closed its doors in 2022.
In a Facebook update, he wrote: “I just wanted to offer some thoughts about DSA and to respond to some of the criticism that has come from other politicians and some commentators, on and offline.
“The one criticism that I have found particularly baffling over the last week or more, has been something said by everyone from the Greens to the Tories - basically variations on the theme that I’m only backing DSA because it’s ’politically popular’.
“Firstly, it’s simply not true.
"DSA has the potential to be a huge economic driver of jobs and growth.
"It gives us the chance to create world leading industries in sustainable aviation and advanced manufacturing, at Gateway East in Doncaster.
"I’ve always said it’s a project that isn’t without risks and challenges, but if we get it right the upsides are bigger than on any other project available to us anywhere in South Yorkshire.
“But perhaps more importantly, I simply can’t understand the logic of anyone making the argument that politicians shouldn’t try to do things that their communities want them to do; that’s literally my job.
“It’s been clear from day one that saving, then reopening DSA has been something people across South Yorkshire want me to try and do.
"I’m South Yorkshire’s Mayor, through devolution I increasingly have the funding and powers to make things happen.
“I can’t override the government, I can’t always do everything, of course I have my own values and priorities, and I absolutely shouldn’t use public money carelessly.
“But if I can do something our community wants me to do, of course I’m going to try and do it. That’s the whole point of my job.
“So I make no apology for committing to reopening DSA last week.
"And any politician or commentator that is out there arguing that I shouldn’t be trying to do things that people want me to do in South Yorkshire, things that are ‘politically popular’, might want to take a long, hard look at their own priorities, values and what they think democracy is all about.”