Doncaster Sheffield Airport business case ‘does not stand up’, claims Reform UK councillor
Councillor Jason Charity is one of two Reform UK members on the City of Doncaster Council who is able to view the full DSA business case
The business case for reopening Doncaster Sheffield Airport (DSA) does not “stand up to serious evaluation”, a Reform UK councillor has said.
Councillor Jason Charity is one of two Reform UK members on the City of Doncaster Council who is able to view the DSA business case, due to his role as chair of the audit committee and claims he had to “fight” to be able to do so.
Following the approval of £160million of public funding for the DSA project by the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA), Cllr Charity contacted the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) with concerns.
He said in a statement: “I was one of only two councillors who were ALLOWED to read the business case, and within ten minutes it was obvious it did not stand up to serious examination.”
Due to the confidential nature of the business case, Cllr Charity said he was legally not yet able to expand on how he came to that conclusion.
He continued: “The fact that the chair of audit had to fight for sight of the most significant investment proposal in a generation is not transparency, it is obstruction.
“This falls far short of the standards set out in the City of Doncaster’s Constitution and undermines public trust. The people of Doncaster deserve proper scrutiny and oversight on such a critical development. Reform UK councillors will ensure that happens, and we will hold this Mayor and her senior officers to account every step of the way.”
The City of Doncaster Council did not respond to the LDRS when approached for a comment.
The business case for reopening DSA set out by Doncaster Council remains confidential, due to the commercial nature of the project.
However, the Mayor of South Yorkshire Oliver Coppard previously said the business case was being thoroughly reviewed and examined before the £160m funding decision on Tuesday, September 9, 2025.
In that vote, five Labour leaders from across South Yorkshire – Oliver Coppard, Ros Jones, Tom Hunt, Chris Read and Sir Steve Houghton – unanimously agreed to provide the funding.
Exact timelines for the reopening of DSA remain blurry, as Mayor Coppard and Mayor Jones continue to offer competing versions.
In the most optimistic account, that of Mayor Jones, freight operations will begin in the summer of 2026, whilst commercial passenger flights will return in the winter of 2027/28.
Conflictingly, Mayor Coppard has suggested a 2027 return for freight flights and has said passenger flights are “unlikely” before 2028.
As previously reported by the LDRS, Mayor Coppard addresses the competing timelines and said: “Ros is always going to be ambitious for this project. I think freight is more likely to be towards 2027 and Ros is hopeful it will be towards 2026. We’re going to do it as quickly as we can – that’s our commitment to people.”