Doncaster Sheffield Airport: MP tells elected mayors to “act now”

Nick Fletcher MP shared his letter on Facebook, which urges South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard and Doncaster Mayor Ros Jones to start the process for a compulsory purchase of the airport.

The letter reads: “It is late in the day and if you do not act now, we shall lose our airport.

“You are the elected Mayors and hold devolved powers. I call on you both again to initiate the compulsory purchase process.

“If the negotiations between Peel and the three consortia are not proceeding at the speed required, you must both step in. You both have the powers, and you must both use them.

“Oliver, you said in your first public statement on 18th July that you were not ruling anything out. I have written to the Secretary of State for Transport to use his influence on Peel so that Peel will sit down with you so that you can buy the airport.

“You are the only people who can buy this airport and given that it is “an essential economic driver for the region” you must both do all you can to save it. You Oliver are responsible for the regeneration of the economy in South Yorkshire, and you need to step up now.

“It may well be that you have both left it too late, but you must each do all that you can.”

Mayor Jones has discussed the idea of a compulsory purchase order previously: “A CPO is an option but for that to have the chance of being successful there needs to be clear evidence that every alternative avenue has been explored.”

“Also a CPO would take roughly 2 years so would not save the airport. It doesn’t matter whether a CPO is started now or in the coming weeks. I have made it clear that this option is well and truly still on the table!”

The two Mayors have also expressed the fact that there are several interested buyers who could potentially take over the airport, but that Peel has not given them enough time for negotiations to take place.

They previously put an offer to Peel to reimburse losses for up to 2 years, however this offer was rejected.

Fletcher has been vocal in his criticism of the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) in particular.

At a Commons debate on Monday, Fletcher slammed devolution in South Yorkshire, claiming that it has hindered the process to save the airport.

He said: “Some may wish [the Government] could do more, and so do I—but that, I am afraid, is devolution. For them to do more, we would need to return powers to Government.”

“Before any more devolution can take place, can it please be explained properly to the electorate what that means? I believe it has been a disaster for South Yorkshire so far.”

On the other side, Doncaster North MP Ed Miliband emphasised his wishes for cross-party cooperation, saying: “there will be time for finger pointing”.

The Free Press has reached out to Mayor Oliver Coppard for comment.