South Yorkshire’s businesses have joined the fight to reopen Doncaster Airport as the region’s three Chambers of Commerce have written to the Transport Secretary calling on him to protect its status.

Doncaster Sheffield Airport shut down last November after owners Peel Group announced it was no longer financially viable to run.

But now CEOs of Doncaster, Sheffield, Barnsley and Rotherham Chambers alongside other prominent organisations have written to Mark Harper, in an attempt to protect the site for a future buyer to allow it to reopen.

The letter calls for the site’s airspace to be kept at its current “Class D” designation, which means pilots will need to request permission from controllers to fly in the zone.

This helps to maintain the site’s protections as a designated airport space and makes it easier to reopen in the future.

It comes a day after businessman Mark Chadwick, who has set up the Save Doncaster Sheffield Airport campaign which has thousands of supporters on social media, said the fight to save the airport ‘is not yet over’.

He said: “As long as our group keeps going, then that shows the authorities – Doncaster Council, South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority and the Government – that people still want the airport to reopen in Doncaster.”

The Civil Aviation Authority has already begun the process of downgrading the site’s airspace to the lowest possible “uncontrolled” level.

Calling on the Transport Secretary to intervene, the letter which is also signed by Sheffield Property Association, representatives from the Manufacturing Forum, the Federation of Small Businesses and the Private Sector Board LEP, says: “Our members want to see DSA re-open, with all efforts made to protect the site for use as an airport. As negotiations between the airport owner and City of Doncaster Council are ongoing, and the public acquisition of the airport by Compulsory Purchase Order remains a possibility, we believe it’s essential for the airspace above DSA not to be reallocated. Any changes to current airspace arrangements could jeopardise the process and efforts to protect the region’s economy.”

Doncaster Mayor Ros Jones has also called to protect the site’s airspace status, following the announcement that the Civil Aviation Authority had begun a consultation with shareholders on the matter.

The consultation, which closes on February 17, will determine whether the airport’s airspace gets downgraded.

Doncaster Council has also begun the process of a Compulsory Purchase Order, which would take the site into the hands of the local authority.

Doncaster Sheffield Airport: South Yorkshire's businesses join fight to save airport