South Yorkshire businesses 'fed up' with political disparity over DSA negotiations
Doncaster's Chamber of Commerce are calling for 'greater unity' moving forwards
It's thought businesses in South Yorkshire are getting 'fed up' with politicians arguing over funding in relation to the potential re-opening of Doncaster Sheffield Airport.
This is following tensions recently between the Labour Mayor of South Yorkshire - Oliver Coppard - & the Conservative MP for Don Valley - Nick Fletcher.
However, Dan Fell - from Doncaster's Chamber of Commerce - insists 'unity' is needed to make sure a deal to get DSA back up & running can be agreed:
"This last week, I've had an inbox full of concerned businesses from Doncaster and other parts of South Yorkshire.
"They feel it's making our region look petty and not unified in our commonly shared goal of getting the airport back open.
"This is super high stakes for South Yorkshire.
"The airport when it closed was contributing over ÂŁ100 million to our economy every year and supporting thousands of jobs.
"Moving forwards, the airport could potentially contribute much, much more than that.
"So, if we can't unify around a topic as serious as our economic growth, then what can we unify around?"
Mr. Fell went on to state that he believes a deal can be struck to re-open the airport soon though:
"I believe a deal will be done in the not-too-distant future.
"I think the re-opening of the airport and seeing flights take off will take a couple of more years after that, as it's a long, complicated process.
"The important thing is, that in the near future, we can hopefully send a confident signal out to the market, out to communities, out to our residents, that Doncaster is back in business, and has a plan for growth which is based around the airport."