The government has backed plans by South Yorkshire’s mayor to invest £30m of devolved funding into reopening Doncaster Sheffield Airport.

The plans are forecasted to support 5,000 jobs, boost the economy by £5bn and provide wider benefits of £2bn by 2050.  

The airport has sat idle since it was closed in November 2022.  

The investment plans will enable the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) to create a sustainable aviation hub in South Yorkshire to “turbocharge economic growth” in the region.

The government has confirmed it has established a working group with Doncaster Council and SYMCA to support local efforts to reopen the airport and explore how the project could unlock wider benefits in the region.

The first meeting, bringing together South Yorkshire mayor Oliver Coppard, aviation minister Mike Kane, Doncaster Council and the government, took place on April 9.

The boost for South Yorkshire comes as deputy prime minister Angela Rayner has agreed new shared priorities with mayors across the country focused on the opportunities and challenges to unlocking regional growth – a major step forward in the government’s pledge for each regional mayor to have their own Local Growth Plan.

Mayor for South Yorkshire, Oliver Coppard, said: “This significant funding package, alongside the cross-departmental government working group we have now set up, is a vital signal of our shared commitment to our airport, to growth, to creating good jobs in our communities, and to the future of Doncaster and South Yorkshire. 

“Since day one, we have been fighting for our airport, so we can create good jobs in the industries of the future and play our part in developing the sustainable aviation technologies of tomorrow.

“To now have the support of a government who don’t just understand that opportunity but truly want to help us realise it, couldn’t be more important.”