Business leaders lash plans to 'obliterate' airport

The Federation of Small Businesses says that the plans by the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership would “obliterate for ever a vital resource that that has a major part to play in the regeneration of the city region.”

Gordon Millward, FSB regional chairman, said: “We believe that we need a regional airport in order to build trade and inward investment.

“We hope to see regular flights reinstated in the near future with a daily link to an international hub airport, regular services to London and other parts of the UK and flights to other European cities.

“All this is quite feasible as long as the present airport infrastructure is retained whilst plans come to fruition.

“A number of investors have come forward willing to initiate a capital project to reinstate the airport and open it once more to commercial operation.

“They will be talking to the site's owners in due course with a view to purchasing the site and remaining infrastructure.

“This seems to the FSB a much more productive use of an existing asset, built originally at the great expense of council taxpayers, but subsequently sold — inexplicably — to private developers for the sum of £1.”

Sheffield City Council has maintained that use of the site is a private matter between the present owners and any prospective developers.

The FSB is urging Sheffield City Council to have a formal debate on the airport’s future and has launched a petition demanding a public inquiry be held, with a target of 5,000 names.

You can add your name to the list by visiting /www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/sheffieldcityairport