The development of a new railway station at Doncaster-Sheffield Airport (DSA) would be a ‘game-changer’ for the region. It’s suggested that a connection from the airport to the East Coast Main Line could see a massive boost for the economy, in a region that is already thriving with ‘inward investment conversations at an all-time high’.

Mayor of Sheffield City Region Dan Jarvis visited the airport to hear more about their plans for an ‘aerotropolis’ – which could potentially unlock a £3.2bn economic boost whilst generating 73,000 jobs at the same time over the course of the next 20 years.

Central to the economic opportunities is DSA’s desire to increase the amount of cargo it handles to 250,000 tonnes a year, whilst hosting the construction of 8,500 new homes within its site. The expansion plan is to directly link the airport to London and Leeds via the East Coast Main Line – massively increasing the catchment area of the airport from. It’s envisaged that the move could place almost 9m people within a 90 minutes commute of the airport.

DSA, formerly named Robin Hood Airport, hope the station would drive a flood of passengers to the airport – with proposals for the station priced at £280m, which would also include a contingency for unexpected circumstances en-route. The airport handled over 1.3m passengers in 2017 and is Yorkshire’s second largest commercial airport.

Mayor Dan Jarvis said: ”Our city region’s airport is already demonstrating impressive growth, not least with the addition of new routes to destinations such as Florida. But the railway station would be truly game-changing for DSA and the wider North of England, creating up to 73,000 new jobs and a multi-million-pound boost to the economy. The airport’s Aero Centre Yorkshire is also one of the sites that last week welcomed a visit from Heathrow, which is exploring DSA’s potential as a site for one of the Heathrow Logistics Hubs. This is a truly exciting time for our airport and I’d like to thank all at Doncaster Sheffield Airport for taking the time to tell me more about their plans.”

We’re excited to be at the Sheffield Development Plans Conference next week where we’ll be hearing about the major development projects and schemes coming to the city and how they will drive economic growth to the rest of the region.