Critical vote on future of Doncaster Sheffield Airport pushed back
The extraordinary meeting was called after Reform UK announced its intentions to reverse approval for a £57million loan, intended to support the reopening efforts.
A critical meeting of the City of Doncaster Council, which could see the end of plans to reopen Doncaster Sheffield Airport, has been pushed back.
The extraordinary meeting was called after Reform UK announced its intentions to reverse approval for a £57million loan, intended to support the reopening efforts.
Councillors approved the loan in November 2025, however, on April 2, 2026, Councillor Jason Charity, deputy leader of Reform UK, revealed his party no longer felt it was given all the information needed to make an informed decision on the loan.
He said that 28 councillors had signed a document calling for the decision to be revisited.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) has verified an email shared with councillors and staff, which explained the extraordinary meeting would be pushed back to May 11, 2026.
The email explains that the motion would have a “significant consequence” on Doncaster Sheffield Airport (DSA).
It states: “The impact arising from the motion requires an assessment of the financial viability prior to full council taking any decision.
“To ensure councillors have the necessary information to make an informed decision, a report will be prepared to accompany the agenda which sets out the relevant information including legal and financial implications and risks.”
The LDRS understands there will be numerous costs to the local authority if the decision to approve the £57m loan is reversed – including those associated with the staff already hired to senior jobs to assist with the reopening and run the airport upon its return.
Senior Labour figures from across the region, including the South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard, have said reversing the decision would “kill” the reopening.
Mayor Coppard, alongside members of the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority Board, approved £160m in funding to reopen the airport in September 2025.
That funding was conditional to a number of clauses in the lease between Doncaster Council and Peel, the airport landowners, being renegotiated.
In February 2026, a month after the full lease was leaked to journalists who exposed the details of such clauses, the Mayor of Doncaster, Ros Jones, said the renegotiation was “almost complete”.
However, there was no update on the renegotiation when the LDRS approached the council in April 2026.
The extraordinary meeting is also said to include a motion to refer the chief executive, Damian Allen, to the chief officers investigatory sub-committee (COISC).
The reasons for such a referral were not disclosed by Cllr Charity in the April 2 meeting