Exclusive:Andy Burnham says Doncaster Sheffield Airport reopening is 'within touching distance'

Andy Burnham unveiled the plans, which No10 described as the “biggest transfer of financial powers” away from Whitehall in decades, at the Meadow Family Hub in Sheffield

Andy Burnham has claimed that his fiscal devolution reforms are “a solution for the challenging issues” with Doncaster Sheffield Airport, and said that the reopening was “within touching distance”.

The Prime Minister announced that mayors will be able to keep a portion of the income tax and business rates raised in their regions, to give them more flexibility and certainty around their funding streams.

Mr Burnham unveiled the plans, which No10 described as the “biggest transfer of financial powers” away from Whitehall in decades, at the Meadow Family Hub, in Shirecliffe, Sheffield, this morning.

On his first visit to the region since becoming Prime Minister, he told The Yorkshire Post that the fiscal devolution “is a big part of the solution” to reopening and running DSA.

“It's based on a lot of my experience in Greater Manchester,” he said.

“If you give areas an incentive to go for growth … you then help them borrow against that growth and come up with the investment and solutions that protect that critical infrastructure that is a driver of growth.

“What we're putting forward today is actually a solution for the challenging issues at Doncaster Airport.”

He said that “with the right will and people pulling in the same direction flights could start” soon, adding: “It's on the horizon now, it's within touching distance.”

The Prime Minister added: “I hope the package we've announced today, and other possibilities such as a visitor levy, puts enough on the table to allow solutions to be found to issues like the airport.”

Mayor of Doncaster Ros Jones has pledged that commercial flights will take off in late 2027 at the earliest, however the finances for the project are still shrouded in uncertainty.

City of Doncaster Council has approved a £57m loan to frontload the funding, which will be drawn at the start of the next financial year.

However, this is borrowed against long-term funds of £160m from South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard, that has yet to be confirmed.

This is dependent on renegotiating the lease with landowner Peel Group, with talks having been ongoing for almost a year.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service reported that a deadline has been set privately for September 2026, when the project could run out of money unless the negotiations bear fruit.

A leak of the lease to The Yorkshire Post in January revealed a series of controversial clauses including giving up 20 per cent of the airport’s turnover above the annual base rent payments to Peel.

Mr Coppard told this paper that his team are still “negotiating hard”, however there was no update.

He highlighted DSA, the Gateway East site surrounding the airport and the Don Valley Corridor as long-term projects that could benefit from the fiscal devolution reforms.

Although the South Yorkshire Mayor said there were no immediate implications from the announcement regarding DSA’s financing, he explained that “a huge world that opens up from today”.

“Today is the day that devolution grows up and there's a huge amount of opportunity that springs from today where we're going to be able to think about these things and challenges differently,” he added.

“I'm really excited to be able to look at those challenges and opportunities differently and see what else we might be able to do.”