Doncaster Sheffield Airport: Transport Secretary says Peel’s “view is sealed”

Speaking to ITV Calendar earlier this week, she said: “Discussions have been ongoing between the Labour council and the owners, and I think they are at a point at the moment where they don’t see a way through, but the Labour council have told me they think there are potential customers so I have told them both to see if they can justify a way to make Peel holdings believe that this is something that can be viable.

“They have run effectively an unviable airport for a number of years, they have asked the Labour council over a number of years to support them and haven’t had that support and it’s been a bit last-minute.

“Only really when Nick Fletcher, the local Conservative MP raised it with me, the government has got involved to see if we could support them, so I look forward to being there to support them both if they want to find a way forward.

“It is the local council who made an offer of £7 million to underwrite the losses for the coming year, Peel holdings are a private company, I don’t believe that’s the right thing to do because they have not been able to run this airport for a number of years despite the losses.

“They have not been able to see any propositions that suggest that those losses can be relieved by new customers so I think their view is sealed but you’d have to ask them if that’s not the case.

“It’s between them, the local authority is the one that has the requirement to have that conversation and that’s what I hope they continue to do if there are indeed viable compositions that they want to bring to the table.”

Last week, eleven South Yorkshire MPs wrote to Trevelyan asking her to use the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 to keep the airport open under emergency circumstances due to the operations that take place there.

She did not comment on this in her interview.

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