Business leaders want end to ‘political point scoring’ in bid to rescue airport
Doncaster’s Chamber’s of Commerce has urged a united front in the effort to revive Doncaster Sheffield Airport (DSA) after South Yorkshire’s mayor accused the Government of rejecting a request to reallocate £30m of funding.
The chamber has warned of the danger of “defeat being snatched from the jaws of victory”, amidst the ongoing fight to reopen this economic asset.
Dan Fell, chief executive of the chamber, said people of all political persuasions had been pulling together to reopen the airport.
But he added: “Unfortunately, we are seeing a lot of unwelcome commentary at the moment that, at best, is a needless distraction and, at worst, could potentially jeopardise the future of this hard-fought campaign by spooking potential investors.
“Pulling together to get a favourable deal done should be our focus right now, rather than needless mudslinging in public forums.
“Business doesn’t care which political party gets to cut a ribbon at the airport reopening ceremony, as long as the universally shared aim of bringing international connectivity back to South Yorkshire is achieved.”
Following South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard’s accusation that the Government had turned down his funding reallocation request, the Department for Transport (DfT) said Coppard’s letter had not constituted a formal request for this cash so had therefore not been handled as such.
Coppard said he wrote to Transport Secretary Mark Harper in December asking to repurpose cash for the reopening of the airport, which was shut by the site’s owners 18 months ago.
This £30m had originally been meant for a new rail link to DSA as part of City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements (CRSTS) funding.
Coppard said DfT officials had “indicated that they do not support a reallocation of funding to other airport capital costs, on the grounds that they are not consistent with CRSTS objectives or deliverable.”
“I am therefore writing to formally ask you to reconsider that decision,” he added.
But DfT responded that no formal request or business case had been lodged by the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, therefore no review was conducted.
Coppard said he considered his letter “a sufficiently formal request”. And he pointed out the DfT had previously said this money could not be used to reopen the airport and questioned whether its stance would change had the request been made “more formally”.
Don Valley MP, Nick Fletcher, has accused Coppard of “ignoring procedures when it suits you”, commenting: “If he spent less time criticising the Government and more time doing his job, maybe these sort of things wouldn’t happen.”
Fell added: “Politicians need to hold each other to account; the business community accepts and understands this.
“Yet there are ways of achieving this without resorting to megaphone diplomacy and without jeopardising projects that are essential to South Yorkshire’s future growth.
“Airing political differences in public diminishes investor confidence and achieves very little, even in an election year. With that in mind, we are urging our political friends and partners to, please, tone it down.”
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