Council pays to replace six 'vermin infested' cabins at Doncaster Sheffield Airport
Doncaster Council is currently working to reopen DSA, using more than £160m in public funds, following its closure in 2022.
The City of Doncaster Council has paid to replace a number of cabins housing essential systems at Doncaster Sheffield Airport (DSA) following a “vermin infestation”.
Doncaster Council is currently working to reopen DSA, using more than £160m in public funds, following its closure in 2022.
However, new decision papers published by the authority have revealed six aerodrome air navigation equipment (AANE) cabins are to be replaced.
The report states the existing cabins are “no longer large enough” for the equipment needed.
It said: “They have reached the end of their operational life and are affected by vermin infestation, no longer providing a secure or suitable environment for the navigational equipment they are required to house.”
The report redacted a whole table detailing how much the new cabins would cost.
The City of Doncaster Council did not respond to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) when approached for more details on the cabins and the airport reopening.
However, the decision report states: “These cabins are essential to support the installation, housing, and protection of critical navigational equipment, which is fundamental to the safe and efficient movement of aircraft.”
The cabins are also “necessary to ensure compliance with Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) regulatory requirements”, the report says.
A contract to replace the cabins was awarded to Tyrone Fabrication Ltd, following a tender process with two bids.
The replacement cabins will have a “minimum design life of 30 years” and refurbishing the existing cabins, which are 21 years old, “would not provide a 30-year design life and would be unlikely to meet the required operational needs”.
Reopening DSA still relies on the renegotiation of the lease agreed between Doncaster Council and the Peel Group, the airport landowners.
The lease included a number of controversial clauses determined to be “favourable to the landowner” by the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA).
A number of these clauses, including an agreement that Peel would be paid 20 per cent of “turnover rent”, were made public when the lease was leaked to journalists, including the LDRS, in January 2026.
Renegotiations of the lease have been ongoing since September 2025, but were put “on hold” ahead of a crunch vote in the council chamber over a £57m loan the council had taken out to support the project.
The LDRS understands the renegotiations have since resumed, with the turnover rent clause a key point yet to be agreed upon.