Reform UK's Richard Tice welcomes Doncaster Sheffield Airport purchase approval and slams ‘bad leasehold deal’
“The original deal pursued by the Labour Mayor represented a bad leasehold deal for residents, gifting Peel 20% of the airport’s turnover while local taxpayers fronted the losses.”
Reform UK’s Richard Tice MP has said his party welcomes the decision from the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) to purchase the freehold of Doncaster Sheffield Airport.
Political leaders in South Yorkshire, including the Reform UK leader of Barnsley Council, approved plans to buy the airport from current owner the Peel Group at an SYMCA Board meeting on October 27, 2026.
Mr Tice said in a statement after the meeting: “Reform has long argued that SYMCA should purchase the freehold of Doncaster Sheffield Airport. The original deal pursued by the Labour Mayor represented a bad leasehold deal for residents, gifting Peel 20% of the airport’s turnover while local taxpayers fronted the losses.
“We thus welcome a freehold purchase whilst we continue to call for more transparency around the deal, including exactly how much the Combined Authority will pay. We must then see more private investment into the locality so this project can succeed and deliver significant economic benefits for local people.”
When quizzed on the purchase after the Board meeting on Monday, Mayor Coppard stood by a previous claim that the leasehold deal, agreed between the City of Doncaster Council and Peel in 2024, was ‘a good deal at the time’, despite a number of controversial clauses.
He said: “If it wasn’t for that lease signed by Doncaster Council we wouldn’t have got to the stage we’re at today where we’ve got nearly 100 people employed at Doncaster Sheffield Airport; where we were able to engage in a process that led us to this point today where we’ve been able to take potential ownership of the airport.
“We’ve been working through a process, which has changed over time for a variety of reasons, not just on our side, but when you look at where the government are in terms of devolution and the confidence that has given us… but also the decisions taken by Peel and their approach to this whole situation.
“That has all changed over time in dramatic and significant ways and we’ve moved with that process as it has changed. That said, the deal at the time was the best possible deal available, this deal available to us now, I think, is a better deal and that’s why we’ve grabbed it with both hands.”
Details of the deal to purchase Doncaster Sheffield Airport will be shared when the agreement has been finalised and signed, Mayor Coppard has previously said.
He revealed the SYMCA purchase of DSA was now subject to a decision by Peel in a ‘couple of weeks’ time’.