A Don Valley MP has released a statement calling out South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard for inconsistency on the combined authorities’ treatment of plans for Doncaster Sheffield Airport and Sheffield’s Supertram network.
MP Nick Fletcher took to Twitter to hit out against the Mayor’s response to the latest update on Doncaster Sheffield Airport plans.
On Tuesday morning, Mayor Coppard announced a development in plans to reopen the Airport, moving the project into ‘Full business case’.
However, Mayor Coppard came out strongly in suggesting the process would still be arduous and ongoing.
He said: “This is a decision to move forward with a plan that could see us using 138 million pounds of taxpayers money.
“Our first responsibility is to the communities of South Yorkshire and I simply will not apologise for going through a robust and effective process that both makes sure taxpayers are getting a good deal and provides the strongest and brightest foundation for DSA.”
The South Yorkshire Combined Authority seems to be moving fairly quickly on the plans to expand and improve Sheffield’s Supertram network, announcing it would be under full public control within a year last March.
On January 6, the combined authority, including Mayor of Doncaster Ros Jones, approved a business plan for the trams that would see the first year of operation subsidised by the combined authority.
In his statement MP Nick Fletcher called Supertram a “Vanity Project” and “White Elephant” for Mayor Coppard saying: “Surely if the two Mayors expect every person in Doncaster to pay for Sheffield to have it’s trams then you would expect them to show us the bill and breakdown.
“One standard for the airport and another for the supertrams? I’m beginning to think so.”
The cost of running Supertram next year is forecast at £23.6m under the currently approved business plan and is expected to generate a loss of £6.3m, a bill that South Yorkshire has committed to cover.
A spokesperson for the Mayor’s office said: “Mr Fletcher is simply not comparing apples to apples.”
£6.3million for the trams would be just 4.5% of the £138m currently allocated for the airport.