The city on the frontline of Burnham’s battle to fight off Reform

The future of Doncaster Sheffield Airport (DSA) is personal for Christian Foster, having grown up only a few hundred yards from the end of the runway. For decades following the Second World War, RAF Finningley, as it was then known, hosted one of the largest military airshows in Europe, and Foster and friends remember sneaking in through the woods to watch. “It was always a fantastic sight and one of the things [that] resonated for me was the community aspect,” he told The i Paper. Shorts The airport has long been a source of pride for people in Doncaster and the city was left devastated when DSA closed in 2022 after its owners – the property giant Peel – said it was no longer commercially viable. Foster is now the programme director of a bid to get it reopened under public ownership and he is optimistic he will meet a target of commercial flights taking off once again in spring 2028. But the reality is that the future of DSA, and the future of Doncaster as a whole, hangs in the balance. When The i Paper visited this week, voters were downbeat about the prospects of their city and voiced concerns about the cost of living, crime and a lack of housing. The pessimism demonstrates how much work new Andy Burnham has to do to turn things around for Labour, while enthusiasm for Reform UK also appears to have slipped. ‘Toxic’ culture in Reform over airport fiasco Reform UK took a majority of seats on Doncaster Council in last May’s elections (Photo: Joel Goodman/The i Paper) The party took a majority of seats on the council last year. However, unusually, the city also has an elected mayor position, which Labour veteran Ros Jones clung onto, largely because of her promise to get the airport reopened. Elsewhere in South Yorkshire, Reform have been closing in – wiping out Labour’s control of nearby Barnsley Council which had lasted for more than 50 years before May’s local elections. But the political landscape remains unpredictable – support for Nigel Farage’s party has dropped in recent national polls as Burnham is experiencing a bounce in popularity. In Doncaster, the airport stands as a symbol of the wider battle between Labour and Reform as to who can deliver the transformation voters are craving. In the past 12 months, Reform’s reputation has taken a hit as inexperienced local councillors flip-flopped over whether to support Labour’s plan to use at least £160m of public money to reopen DSA. Internal disagreements, plus the personal involvement of Farage and his deputy Richard Tice on the issue, have led to repeated changes in leadership and what one insider described as a “toxic” atmosphere. At one stage, Reform councillors were threatening to pull the plug on funding entirely, despite being told by officials it would end any hopes of the airport reopening and push Doncaster Council towards bankruptcy. ‘We’ve had to educate Reform over airport deal’ Melina Coates says staff have been worried about the airport’s future (Photo: Joel Goodman/The i Paper) The uncertainty has been unsettling for the 80 staff already working on a £20m revamp of the airport, in the hope it will reopen. “We keep questioning ourselves, are we still going to be in this position in a couple of years’ time or are we going to have to look for something else?” said 31-year-old Melina Coates, site management officer at the airport. “We’ve obviously had discussions in the office, because there is that uncertainty: is it going to open? “But we’re looking forward to that because there’s so many opportunities. It would be great once it’s opened to say we’ve contributed to it.” Foster admits his team has had to “educate” Reform councillors on aspects of the airport deal. He said: “If you take the political landscape nationally, you can see lots of areas where Reform have come into power, [they are] then getting to grips with ‘what does it mean to be a public official? [What are] your duties and expectations?’ “You see lots of places are wrestling with different airport projects and that’s not uncommon. “The bit that we need to do is we need to deliver, but also we need to be transparent and educate, and that’s what we’re trying to do.” Christian Foster remains optimistic that commercial flights will take off from the airport in spring 2028 (Photo: Joel Goodman/The i Paper) Foster says his understanding is that Reform remains “100 per cent” behind the reopening of the airport and that public frustration will cool down once the airport is able to announce deals with commercial airlines. “I think a lot of that tension and noise then starts to dissipate because it feels very real,” he added. There is fresh optimism now that Doncaster is in the unique position of having all four of its MPs holding positions in Burnham’s government – Ed Miliband as Foreign Secretary, John Healey as Chancellor, Sally Jameson as a parliamentary undersecretary in the Cabinet Office and Lee Pitcher as a parliamentary private secretary in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Asked whether he believes it means the airport is more likely to reopen, Foster added: “Let’s be honest, it can only be good news.” ‘People are sceptical but interested in Burnham’ Whitehouse believes Reform’s popularity is waning and is hopeful about Andy Burnham as Prime Minister (Photo: Joel Goodman/The i Paper) James and Rachel Whitehouse, who run an LGBT-friendly café called Bake Battle Roll in Doncaster city centre, said they believe Reform councillors have struggled to have much of an impact in terms of local decision-making and that their support may be starting to wane. “Reform took over the majority of council seats because there was a lot of dissatisfaction,” said James. “A lot of people from Doncaster perceive the town as dangerous, full of knife crime and all that. Having lived in lots of different places, I don’t think it’s true. “I do think Reform have started to shrink back a bit. I think people are sceptical but interested [in Burnham]. “A lot of people we’re speaking to, they’re waiting to see if Burnham is different to Starmer. I think people will be hoping he can do on a nationwide scale what he did in Manchester.” Grandmother Dawn Lee, 55, doesn’t have much faith in either Labour under Burnham or Reform. “They’re all the same,” she told The i Paper. Lee, who lost her job when a branch of KFC closed down in Doncaster a year ago, is more concerned about the cost of living crisis. “Everything has gone up, we’re all short of money,” she said. “I wish there was more for kids in the school holidays – stuff for them to do that’s free. “I used to be able to take the kids ice skating for £1; it kept them out of trouble. Now going to the pictures costs £100 – you have to save up for luxuries.” Dawn Lee said people in Doncaster are still struggling with crime, housing and the cost of living (Photo: Joel Goodman/The i Paper) Burnham will be hoping his focus on giving “breathing space” to voters such as Lee will resonate. His promise to end homelessness is also likely to be noted in Doncaster, where rough sleeping increased 58 per cent in the past year. “When I used to work in KFC there was always people outside begging, the police used to come and move them on,” said Lee. “Now there’s that many of them they don’t bother. It’s intimidating always being asked for change. “There’s no jobs about. There’s a Next warehouse and Amazon – but they bring people in then lay them off. “It’s not enough to run a house on. The waiting list is 10 years for a council house; you’ve got to go homeless and go in a hotel for them to house you.” ‘I understand the frustration with politicians’ Former miner Frank Nixon fears Reform but has little faith in the other political parties to change Doncaster (Photo: Joel Goodman/The i Paper) Frank Nixon, 78, has seen how Doncaster has changed drastically over his lifetime. “If you stood here in the 60s, there would be non-stop traffic,” said Nixon, standing in the city centre. “It was a prosperous town; we had the mines, the railway, factories. “But now, what do we have? Warehouses. You can walk through here on an afternoon and there’s one man and his dog. “Doncaster is full of vape shops, pound shops. I understand the frustration.” Nixon worked in the coal mines for years, even surviving a tunnel collapse which left him trapped underground for several days. All four of Doncaster’s MPs are now serving in Andy Burnham’s Government (Photo: Joel Goodman/The i Paper) But like many former miners, his health has paid the price in the end, as he was later diagnosed with asbestosis, a serious lung condition caused by exposure to the dangerous substance. Nixon says he’s not sure who he would vote for at the moment as he has “no trust” in any politician.“I saw a friend the other day who said he was voting Reform,” said Nixon. “I said, why? What if you get cancer tomorrow? They want to get rid of the NHS. “But Burnham won’t change anything, he’s no better than the last one.” Back at the airport, Foster is acutely aware of the negativity felt by local people.“We’ve got a fantastic, rich history around private sector industries, but we’ve also got this history where we’ve had some major employers and unfortunately they’ve left,” he said. “I was born in Doncaster, my parents are from two of those mining communities, and the kind of passion from Doncaster people, you can see that in 130,000 people signed a petition to retain the airport, and you kind of go, why is that? “Is it because it resonates? Does it resonate the fact that there’s been a lot of industries that have come and left Doncaster and the importance of making sure that we’ve got a fantastic organisation that can provide ambition and deliver some of those expectations.”