Oliver Coppard, South Yorkshire’s Mayor, addressed the region with pride today following the combined authority’s decision yesterday to buy Doncaster Sheffield Airport and the surrounding land at Gateway East.

The mayor said that ‘just as Doncaster had become a city, the most visible symbol of that status and ambition was ripped away’ and he said that despite trying, he could not reverse the decision at the time.

However four years later, those efforts have actualised into a decision where the city’s landmark is back in the public’s hands, and its future is ‘a bright one again.’

While he understood that the decision was a ‘big’ step he justified the move as ‘a once in a generation opportunity to grow the economy of South Yorkshire, create thousands of jobs in the industries of the future’ and route to connect the region to the world.

In his address he reflected on criticism of the decision in its planning stage and its risk with people he respected who said ‘the private sector couldn’t make it work so [they] shouldn’t even try.’ 

Quoting this criticism he said that yesterday’s decision is ‘a commitment to turn the tide on 40 years of an economic and political strategy that says we are powerless in the face of private sector failure’

and that ‘we do have agency when we want things to change.

He acknowledged that this vision of pursuit to financial sustainability ‘will not be an easy one’ and that ‘there will be challenges along the way.’

He concluded, “South Yorkshire is my home…I am determined to make sure we take every sensible step we can to make this project work for the benefit of all of us, to grow a bigger, better economy [regionally],” 

“So people growing up here today can truly stay near and go far.”