25 October 2022
There’s less than a week to go before Peel Group closes Doncaster Airport and efforts to keep it open are coming from all sides – except the government.
A Parliamentary debate on the future of the airport ended with Labour MP Stephanie Peacock appealing for the Government to “step up”.
Ms Peacock, MP for Barnsley East, told the Commons, “Doncaster Sheffield Airport is an important regional economic asset with thousands of jobs depending on it.
“Despite Peel Group announcing its closure, local leaders have made every effort to work with the group and to work with the Government to secure the airport’s future.
“The South Yorkshire mayor made Peel Group an offer of public money to keep the airport running. They have also helped to find three potential investors who are seriously interested in keeping the airport operational. But at every turn these efforts have been met with resistance.”
For the government, Katherine Fletcher, under-secretary of state at the Dept for trransport, said, “When it comes to regional airports – Manchester, Liverpool, Tees Valley among others – local authorities [are] investing to support a commercial solution and that is an option available to the South Yorkshire mayoral combined authority and Doncaster City Council in this case.”
Doncaster mayor Ros Jones has been campaigning to stop the closure. “The issue we have is that Peel is a reluctant seller,” she said.
“This week we have also made it clear to them that if there is no collaborative arrangement for the airport’s future due to their unreasonable closure timescale, the council is prepared to initiate the process for a Compulsory Purchase Order of the airport and investigate if we can go to the courts for a Judicial Review of Peel’s decision to close.”
AIRPORT CLOSURE – DAY 105
Today is the long awaited day of the Adjournment Debate re @DSA_Airport and @PeelLandP & @olivercoppard .
?? 1/9 #SaveDSA #Doncasterisgreat pic.twitter.com/7rjSn0nmJY
— Nick Fletcher MP (@NickFletcherMP) October 24, 2022
