Airport in 'cheeky' rates exemption bid
20.09.07
A local councillor has blown the lid on a 'cheeky' bid by bosses at Robin Hood Airport to get Doncaster Council to let them off business rates for 5 years. He said that the request is 'unbelievable', adding that it has been rejected by the council, but the airport, which saw passengers jump by 23% last month, is now appealing the decision, saying it is suffering 'financial hardship'.
Doncaster Sheffield Airport Ltd, which runs Robin Hood, is asking for business rates exemption to be backdated until April 2005, meaning it would not resume pay the tax until 2010. The company is owned by the Peel Group, which also owns Liverpool Airport, Durham Tees Valley Airport and Manchester's Trafford Centre. It states on its website that is has assets valued in excess of £4.6bn.
The council has called for a special all-party committee to be established to review the application and will hold an extraordinary meeting next month to resolve the matter. But councillor Martin Williams has called the airport - which was established with the help of £10 million of public money through the Objective One scheme - 'cheeky' for lodging the request.
He said: 'It's unbelievable. They think that just because they are the airport people will bend over backwards for them. I've never heard of anything like this happening before. Hundreds and thousands of people travel through the airport, you'd expect it to be making money hand over fist.'
A spokesman for Robin Hood Airport, which celebrated its two millionth passenger in June, said: 'We are surprised that Doncaster Council has allowed details of the application to exist in the public domain ahead of the due process unfolding. It is not our intention to rehearse the details of the application in the Press. Following completion of the application we would look to comment further, as appropriate at that time.'
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