Been announced for a starters £138,000,000 to get airport open. That's £450 per Donny resident and kids. What area is going to suffer for this money pit. I thought money was tight.
On the face of it, it is a lot of money. However, it's going to (re)create 11,000 jobs, as well as provide a gateway for this part of the country back into Europe. There have been planned improvements for grassroots sport and infrastructure shelved because of the closure to the airport. Hopefully, by getting it reopened, some of these plans could now come to fruition. A railway station linking it to Sheffield would be invaluable in my opinion.
If it was worth keeping open then peel group would have kept it open, it’s never going to do anything without the big players going in
According to the BBC the £138m is Doncasters share of the devolution funding from the Mayor's Office being voted on tomorrow, and is just the first step. If passed Doncaster Council then need to agree a lease with Peel and appoint an operating company to run it, hopefully later this year. No actual opening date set yet. BBC News - Doncaster-Sheffield Airport vote set to free £138m towards reopening https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-68272394
The £138M is being contributed by the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, I believe. I think that Doncaster and the other three SY councils and the SYMCA take the view that the airport could provide wider financial benefits to South Yorkshire if it is successfully revived. No doubt Peel were interested purely in their own bottom line. I think the attitude of the councils is laudable, but luring the airlines will be the difficult bit.
Peel Group would only have interests in the profit (or losses) of Peel Group. SYMCA might be happy to make a loss if 100 companies in the region make extra profit and employ more people as a result - and it could be argued that a £10m loss per annum is less important than the number of jobs created in the area to support the airport. A railway link to Doncaster would be a good start. The same train could continue through to Sheffield or even Barnsley linking all the local towns to the airport.
and if they laid a brand new railway line to our little village to Doncaster, Sheffield and Barnsley then we might use it every now and then.
Peel are property developers. With the exception of Liverpool Airport they've never made a decent fist of running an airport. They saw the potential of access to the motorway network and mainline rail with an eye to logistics development hence their token interest in Doncaster. Let's not forget they walked away from Sheffield in similar fashion, at a cost to the taxpayer. Last week's bad weather was an example of the limitations of Leeds Bradford with incoming flights getting diverted and also the problems of getting over the Pennines to Manchester. Doncaster Airport (time to drop the ridiculous Robin Hood title) as great potential.
£36 billion saved by axing the Birmingham - Manchester HS2. £138m is a bargain. Funding should come from central government, then we can look at a railway line between Barnsley and Mexborough.
Peel are liars, they really would like to build all over the site. They have made several applications to take greenfield land to build warehousing for their 'successful' project.
My gut feeling with the peel group was soon as that link to the m18 was put in they wanted to build on it, properties worth a lot more with easy links to the motorway system. Maybe all local councils could contribute as it would benefit the whole region if it reopened.
Time to get Barnsley linked to Doncaster by rail via Mexborough and get Wath linked up to the same line.
They'd have to pump out the track bed and move that giant earth work. Be easier to install a junction at Meadowhall.
Doncaster - Mexborough - Rotherham - Meadowhall - Barnsley. Put a bend in at Meadowhall so that trains can go from Barnsley to Doncaster without having to change or spend 20 minutes going to Sheffield and back. The good people of Wath can get up to Swinton easily enough.