Doncaster councillors push to scrap £57m airport loan amid lease row
Reform and Conservative members of the council are pressing ahead with plans to rescind the previously approved borrowing facility tied to the reopening of Doncaster Sheffield Airport, ahead of an extraordinary council meeting on 11 May.
The borrowing, approved in November by a large majority including Reform members, was intended to fund early-stage work on the airport’s reopening via the council-owned FlyDoncaster initiative, pending £160m in devolution funding to support the wider project.
However, both parties now argue that newly revealed details of a 125-year lease agreement, leaked to The Yorkshire Post in January, have altered the project’s financial risk.
The lease includes provisions such as a £5m annual base rent, a potential 20% turnover rent, and break clauses favouring landowner Peel if passenger targets are not met. Concerns over these terms have also delayed the release of devolution funding while renegotiations continue.
Ambitions for the reopening of DSA stretch beyond the airport itself, with the site earmarked for international freight ambitions, as well as a gateway site for an advanced manufacturing park called Gateway East.
The South Yorkshire Airport City project is a 10-year plan that uses the DSA as an anchor for Gateway East to become a sustainable aviation hub, capitalising on the region’s status as an Investment Zone and focusing on advanced manufacturing.
Save DSA campaign leader Mark Chadwick has urged councillors to reconsider, calling the move “reckless” and warning it would delay the project and undermine investor confidence. Labour mayor Ros Jones similarly warned rescinding the borrowing would “kill the airport project,” citing ongoing employment and economic benefits.
Energy secretary and MP for Doncaster North Ed Miliband has also commented, saying: “I think what’s really bad about this is that Reform went into the mayoral election saying they supported it. They went into the election as supporters of the airport, and now they’re trying to kill it.”
In response, Reform UK said councillors had not been fully informed of the lease terms before the initial vote, with deputy leader Jason Charity describing the deal as fundamentally flawed and arguing for greater private sector involvement to reduce taxpayer risk.
Conservative councillors echoed these concerns, backing the move to withdraw support for borrowing and calling for a more commercially viable approach.
Both Reform and the Conservatives maintain they support reopening the airport but want a revised funding and governance model with stronger private investment and reduced public exposure.
The row is the latest to come to the fore following the 2025 local elections in Doncaster, which resulted in Labour retaining the Mayoralty but Reform taking the majority of council seats.
Since then, differences in opinion have led to a series of in-house disagreements, including the referral by chief executive Damien Allen to the MHCLG over issues relating to the conduct of council and committee proceedings. The government has since placed City of Doncaster Council under active monitoring.
Doncaster has failed once, after wasting a good deal of public funding and there is NO reason to expect any different outcome on a second attempt. Leeds, East Midlands and Teesside will continue to meet the needs of the travelling public
By David Edmondson
Some folk think Sheffield does not benefit from an airport. Some used to say, who needs a railway station, we already have a canal.
By Anonymous
If reform do this they will be out in the next election
By Anonymous
Having been raised in Conisbrough with family still around Doncaster my heart would love the airport to reopen – especially as I have lived in Poland for the last 15 years. However as a former CEO of numerous businesses (including large divisions of global multinationals as well as my own start ups) I founded and led a specialist Venture Capital organization before retiring and moving to Warsaw. Sadly DSA has zero chance of being a profitable airport despite the huge subsidies being provided. East Midlands has the freight market tied up with significant infrastructure already in place as well as an excellent location and access to transport routes. Doncaster would be starting from scratch and has zero opportunity of attracting the likes of UPS, FedEx and others. It might attract a very low volume of package holiday flights in summer but never enough to cover costs. The fact that the council could find zero interest in managing the place is evidence enough. Were I a local resident I would be demanding the council (one of the worst rated in the country) to divert funds to contributing to needed local services. Sad I know but factually correct
By Steve Nesbitt-Smolarski
We have a fantastic opportunity to put Doncaster front and central to significsnt business opportunities with a diverse range of partners both nationally and internationally and the real not perseved prospect of employment for our young people going forward. This is additional to opening up travel opportunities for the travelling public It is imperative that on the 11th May every Councillor gets behind the plans to give the green light ( once again) to progress the innovative plans for Doncaster Sheffield airport As a Doncaster tax payer I believe strongly that this development is truly a risk well worth taking we really have what could be a once in a lifetime opportunity to lead the way in innovative ways and as we know there is the real appetitie to work with Fly Doncaster to make the plans a reality. Instead of Doncaster being on the news for all the wrong reasons please, please lets be on the news for all the right reasons innovation, positive risk taking to bring about real and sustainable change now and in the longer term for Doncaster and South Yorkshire.
By Anonymous