A Tolhurst welcomed everyone to the Special Meeting of the Airport Consultative Committee. 

Apologies for absence were noted as above. 

A Tolhurst opened the meeting and he said that on Monday 26 September 2022, the waiting was over.  At 11:30 am that morning the sad news was announced that aviation services at DSA would start to be rundown in just over four weeks, on 31 October 2022.

Like many ACC Members, his association with the airfield dated back some time.  It was in 1983 that he came to RAF Finningley to begin two of the most enjoyable years of his RAF career.  He was delighted when his connection was restored in 2005 as an ACC Member.

Monday’s announcement was a great disappointment to him, as it will have been to the many who campaigned for its retention as an operational airfield after the RAF had moved out, and more recently to the 100,000+ who had signed the petition to keep the airport open.

A Tolhurst said that we are where we are and he was grateful to David Grant, the Managing Director, for agreeing to brief the Committee on the Strategic Review process and how the decision to close the airport for aviation services was made.

D Grant provided Members with a summary of the consultation process which had been carried out to undertake the Strategic Review of DSA. 

It was reported that work had been undertaken principally via a Working Group led by Doncaster MBC (known as the ‘South Yorkshire Partners’).  The Working Group included representatives from the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority and the Doncaster Chamber of Commerce.  Included within the Working Group were smaller Sub-Groups focusing upon two workstreams. 

The first workstream was established to investigate different ownership models.  The second workstream was to examine different operating models for the airport. 

In relation to the operating model, the South Yorkshire Partners had commissioned a number of external consultants with specialisms in aviation and infrastructure.  At the Working Group meetings Members explored different operating models for the airport with the input and knowledge from the consultants. 

The options were explored and reported back to the Working Group.  D Grant explained that he had not seen the conclusions of this work. 

In relation to the second workstream around exploring different ownership models, the Committee was informed that the South Yorkshire Partners had stated that there would be no direct funding available from them.  They had made this position very clear from the start of the consultation period. 

In addition, this position had also been adopted in the previous 2 years when Peel had approached them for equity and debt funding. 

It was reported that weekly conversations had taken place between Peel Group’s Chief Executive, Peel Airport’s Chairman and D Grant to discuss different ownership models. 

The South Yorkshire Partners had decided that they would go to the market to seek a third-party investor or operator. 

As announced in the Press, the South Yorkshire Partners had indicated that they had found a potential consortium, which they considered to be credible and a viable purchaser or operator for the airport.  Partners had also indicated that the consortium had or was being led by an airline group. 

At this time, Peel had indicated that they were very interested to obtain information around who the consortium may be and to hear their proposal. 

Unfortunately, this did not materialise, and the South Yorkshire Partners did not come forward with further information. 

On 22 September 2022 a letter was received from the South Yorkshire Partners offering grant funding to maintain operations for 13 months (to the end of October 2023). 

It was reported that Peel had considered the letter and discussed its contents with various partners, including the Department for Transport (DfT) and with The Rt Hon Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP (the new Secretary of State for Transport).  

Peel concluded that the offer which had been made did not solve the problem, it only moved the problem on for a period of time.  Peel made the decision not to accept the grant and to close DSA.  This was announced on Monday 26 September 2022. 

In relation to closing the airport and winding down aviation services on 31 October 2022, D Grant explained  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

No further items of business were discussed.