The Mayoral authority of South Yorkshire has agreed to fund the first round of a council bid to take over and reopen Doncaster Sheffield Airport.
City of Doncaster Council had ringfenced £3.1 million to begin the process of applying for a compulsory purchase order (CPO) of the site and now the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) has said it will give Doncaster Council the money.
DSA closed in November after owner Peel Group said it was financially unviable.
The £3.1m will fund a financial viability assessment, an initial business case and legal fees associated with the initial CPO process, although the legal bill could end up costing twice that, the BBC reports.
And, if the courts grant a CPO, the local authorities will have to find more money to purchase the site.
South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard said the region’s political leaders ‘haven’t given up on our fight’ to save the airport, which brought in an estimated £108.4m to the region when it was operating.
He said the CPO was ‘our last, best hope to take back control’ and added the region’s leaders would ‘not stop until we’ve exhausted every option’.
“There are no easy or quick answers in this process. The CPO could take up to two years, and there are loads of hurdles in the way,” he said.
“But across South Yorkshire we are determined to do everything we can to bring DSA back into use, and to make it the thriving regional airport we know it can be.”
In the meantime, a protection order banning Peel Group from demolishing any of the airport’s buildings without planning consent came into force on Monday.
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City of Doncaster Council had ringfenced £3.1 million to begin the process of applying for a compulsory purchase order (CPO) of the site and now the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) has said it will give Doncaster Council the money.
DSA closed in November after owner Peel Group said it was financially unviable.
The £3.1m will fund a financial viability assessment, an initial business case and legal fees associated with the initial CPO process, although the legal bill could end up costing twice that, the BBC reports.
And, if the courts grant a CPO, the local authorities will have to find more money to purchase the site.
South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard said the region’s political leaders ‘haven’t given up on our fight’ to save the airport, which brought in an estimated £108.4m to the region when it was operating.
He said the CPO was ‘our last, best hope to take back control’ and added the region’s leaders would ‘not stop until we’ve exhausted every option’.
“There are no easy or quick answers in this process. The CPO could take up to two years, and there are loads of hurdles in the way,” he said.
“But across South Yorkshire we are determined to do everything we can to bring DSA back into use, and to make it the thriving regional airport we know it can be.”
In the meantime, a protection order banning Peel Group from demolishing any of the airport’s buildings without planning consent came into force on Monday.
The post South Yorks Mayor agrees to fund DSA rescue bid appeared first on Travel Gossip.
Continue reading...
