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Probe to be held over closure of city airport
A EUROPEAN Commission investigation is to be held into the circumstances surrounding the closure of Sheffield City Airport.
It follows a campaign by pressure group Save City Airport Movement, which presented evidence to District Auditor Sue Sunderland and led to her criticising Sheffield City Council for missing inconsistencies in a key report about the airport's financial viability.
The campaigners - known as SCAM - allege the council and airport operator Peel did not do enough to attract new airlines after the last scheduled service pulled out in 2002.
The 999-year lease agreement for the airport site, made in the 1990s, said it had to be kept open for a decade but if it was not making a profit by that time, it could be closed and the land transferred from the council to the operator for 1.
The airport closed six months ago this week, on April 30, and the runway is set to be dug up to make way for a business park.
Old documents show the idea was first discussed by airport managers and council chiefs in 2003, only six years into the airport's life - when SCAM said efforts should have focused on attracting airlines.
SCAM has been told by the chairman of the European Commission's petitions committee Marcin Libicki that a 'preliminary investigation into the various aspects of the problem' has been ordered.
The EC is an interested party because European cash was used to part-fund roads and other infrastructure around the airport site.
The District Auditor was asked to consider the way Sheffield council dealt with a report from 2005 by consultants York Aviation, which concluded the airport was not viable. The document was key to the council deciding to allow the facility's closure.
Ms Sunderland said: "It is my view that consideration of the financial viability could have been more robust. I have written to the council summarising the conclusions of my review and recommending that they learn from this."
She said there was a disparity in figures used in York Aviation's report - that appendices showed loss figures which were smaller than those quoted in the report itself.
She also questioned why site rent had been included in the airport's costs when the lease agreement said the operator should not have been taking a rental charge from the facility's accounts until it was making a profit.
Ms Sunderland also said there was no evidence the council double-checked York Aviation's financial assessment, which she said should have identified inconsistencies.
But she added there was no evidence the council acted illegally or that Peel did not make 'reasonable endeavours' to make the airport viable.
A spokesman for SCAM - made up of aviation professionals and enthusiasts based in the city - said: "After all this effort, we have been justified in pursuing the matter and in our belief that the council has not handled things correctly.
"We would now suggest that Sheffield council's leader Paul Scriven reconsiders his decision not to hold a public inquiry.
The matter warrants an investigation."
Coun Scriven replied: "Apart from concluding that the council was not robust in analysing York's figures, it has done nothing illegal or wrong in dealing with the airport.
"We have now moved on and, as the auditor has already looked into the matter, there would be nothing to be gained from further investigation."
He added that he will not reverse his decision against a public inquiry at present - although Coun Scriven added he would 'await the outcome' of the European probe to see if any new concerns emerge.
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Weather for Sheffield
Tuesday 07 February 2012
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