ECCOnoob

Your comparisons are hardly realistic. Harrods and Fortnum and Mason are major tourist destinations in the capital city. They are complete outliers and not even in the same league to be compared. As for Fenwick, its shop floors may be bustling with customers but are they actually buying. A quick glance at their group accounts filed in 2021 showed they made a £97 million loss. TJ Hughes was a purpose designed discount department store so it was obvious it was not going to have the sort of high level heavily involved customer service as premium brands. But what about the many other stores that's been and gone over time. Walsh's, Cockaynes, Roberts Brothers, Banners, Castle House, B&C stores..... all long gone. More recently, John Lewis clearly failed to survive in Sheffield to the point they shut it down. Then the Debenhams group has collapsed entirely, the Beales group collapsed, the Coop group has ditched nearly all of its non-food department store operations, Lewis's/Owen Owen group collapsed, House of Fraser is a shell of its former self including shutting down its flagship Oxford Street branch and it's 'Scottish Harrods' branch, Jenner's in central Edinburgh.... Even around the world massive name such as Sears and Macys, Hudson Bay and Nordstrom have all faced extreme difficulties resulting in massive store closures and knocks to their profits. Yes I would love a big busy department store to be in the centre of Sheffield but the consumers have spoken. They are spending vast amounts of money in big box warehouse stores, supermarkets and online. Department stores, by their very nature require vast amounts of expensive real estate, vast amounts of staff and vast amounts of purchasing footfall going through its doors each day. They are not just something to look pretty and wonder round touching up the goods. For all it's mocked, Atkinsons god bless them are at least trying to keep a strong fight. Their store maybe little bit dated but at least they are trying to keep going and adapting their stock and services as and when our own tastes and trends change with realistic prices and type of goods that people round here want and are prepared to pay. It business and we have to be realistic about it. For all the morning and whining that goes on here, I'd much rather a building be filled with flats as opposed to sitting empty for another 10, 15, 20 years.

Yeah sure. You keep telling yourself that. 83% of people estimated to be using contactless. Reported trend of 70% decline in use of cash since 2010. A measly 17% of all payments in 2020 were by cash. I think your king is about to abdicate. Answer me this honestly, if stats like that applied to any other type of product or service would you still be championing it as some dominant and relevant force?

Good. It's 2022. The world is run on the silicon chip. The quicker it keeps evolving the better. We moved on from trading with cattle and bartering with objects. We moved on from the world of farthings and groats and shillings and crowns. We moved on from the world of salaries being dished out weekly and little brown envelopes and standing behind a dozen people in the supermarket queue whilst they faff around writing out their cheques or counting out £14.32 in exact coinage. We are now moving on from cash transactions altogether which is providing great opportunities to business owners who now no longer need to worry about the expense, liability and hassle of dealing with cash each day and has also enabled the ability to extend the 24-hour society with limited staffing or staffless operations which previously would not have been possible. The banks have always been in control. Nobody walks around with loads of cash in their back pocket and piles of notes under the mattress. They provide us with a free at source service which we all take advantage of and in return they get to do investments and lending on money that we deposit there. It's how it's worked since before the turn-of-the-century. It's a fact of life and it's part of engaging with the world that you live in. Grow up and stop treating everything as some conspiracy against ordinary people. The age of mass use of council public toilets is long over. We are not in the Victorian age anymore. People have them in their homes, every business will have one, every venue has them, every transport facility has them, every major public building has them. For the small numbers of outside council facilities left, the cost of running and operating them is continually going up and generally the number of users going sharply in the opposite direction. 40p is a convenience charge. If people really don't want to pay it they can go to an alternative nearby.

You got there a head of me... It astounds me how this ridiculous hysterical response keeps coming up from certain people about contactless. I certainly don't want dwindling public resources being wasted just because a minority of dinosaurs and stubborn asses can't or won't keep up with the evolution of modern world and technology. Ultimately, they have three choices, suck it up and use the facility or go find an alternative place or stand there protecting their pathetic 'principles' and wet themselves. Honestly the way people talk about Contactless payments as if its some completely alien concept. For heavens sake, it's been in existence since the late 2000s and commonplace for most people since at least 2015 onwards. Wider than that, electronic debit card payments first started in existence in the 70s with it being absolutely routine by the 90s. I'm sure those with genuine disabling needs are catered with the radar key changing places facility. As for anyone else in groups or families, or whatever other excuse wants to be thrown around, they need to get over themselves. Public toilet facilities cost money to build, money to install and money to continually maintain. If one chooses not to use facilities for free in their own house, B&B, caravan, leisure park, arcade, sports centre, shopping mall, cinema, theatre, hotel, bar, cafe restaurant, train station, coach, service station...... then 40p is a perfectly reasonable charge for the convenience. I think a certain Mr Dramatics needs to get out more. Try London and see the the £1 contactless only toilets in the middle of Covent Garden. Try places all over continental Europe where large numbers of public facilities (even those in the middle of shopping malls, food courts, department stores or transport stations) still have some sort of charge to enter..... That will certainly give them something to complain about.

Millions of people still feel like that and are living proof of it. The generations now have benefits and a lifestyle that their predecessor couldn't have dreamt off. There is a very good reason why there are fees for university, and that's because thanks to Tony Blair's policies and every government since, the younger generation treats it as if it's some given right that they will go and it's a routine part of their education life. It used to be a place of selective courses for those with a genuine career path or academic ability - now it is arguable it's become the norm. An extension of adolescence and another buffer to stretch out time before joining the the world of work. In fact those who don't attend uni are often treated as if they somehow left something out. Then look at how the working world is these days. For the majority of the current generation employees they've got rights and benefits and working practises which would have been unthinkable 30-40 years ago. Look at the working conditions compared to some of the unsafe (if not lethal practises) being done by their predecessors. Look at the advancements in workplace technology, look at expansion in the type of job roles, the changing shifts in society on what people can achieve regardless of their sex or race or background or sexual orientation. Look at the advancements in things like flexible hours, shared parental leave, equal pay, minimum wage levels, maternity allowances, mental health and wellbeing initiatives, agile and home working initiatives..... Some of us are old enough to remember the days when women stayed at home washing the pots. If they did dare to enter the testosterone world of work, they were there to answer the phone, do the typing, serve lunch, look pretty and make the tea. Ask some young starter now to handwrite a ledger report and total it without a calculator, unload a load of pallets without some nice electronic trug or sack barrow, or manually dig up some part of the road without a 1000 pieces of safety gear.... we have a world where people are making legitimate careers out of of social media performance sitting in their own bedrooms. People making legitimate careers creating art and video content. They are making legitimate careers trading goods bought online and resold. They are making legitimate careers blogging their own lives and journalling every trivial thing they do to show others who dedicatedly follow them. Thanks to the advancements in globalisation and of course communications, the current generation have a work and social life which far exceeds anything seen before with friends and acquaintances all over the planet. They are constantly connected to their support group, they are constantly engaged, informed and entertained. All of this of comes at a cost which plenty of people seem more than willing to be able to absorb. There is more socialising now than there ever was. The spend in consumer goods is more than ever before. The definition of poverty is beyond all recognition. Yes we all know food banks exist but where is the genuine need. If they disappear tomorrow what exactly would people do. Would they starve to death or would they somehow miraculously managed to find those extra pennies to buy groceries. The average house, even for someone on modest or low income, has furnishings and technology previous generations would have had to save months if not years to achieve. There is an abundance of cheap consumer goods, cheap clothing, cheap food broughty by exploiting foreign labour markets. No one seems to care a lot about that as long as a price on the shelf is good. Everyone takes advantage of such things as demonstrated by the fact there are globalised businesses that make billions on the back of it. We have an abundance of cheap credit, buy now pay later schemes all at the click of a button and without having to face a regular third degree from some bank manager or credit officer. We are buying cars like picking up a dress off the rack. We have millions flying out on a regular basis at least once or twice a year on some bargain basement package tour, something which are predecessors may have only done once or twice in a lifetime. Travel is now for the masses when it was once seen as for the upper class and celebrity set. Genuine grievance about genuine poverty?? or just entitlement syndrome from a society who've continually been in a privileged position and never really had to face what on the wider global stage would be considered be genuine hardship and destitution. Times are tough. Times are difficult. But people get on with it. People adapt. People make their own path. Others sit on they're behind looking for someone else to continually blame or expect things just to happen for them.

Ooh nice dodge there. Some proper fancy footwork. You ought to be on the pitch. Actually, in the context of the media conspiracy I was referring directly to your suggestion clearly set out in post #132 that somehow the 'tory controlled' mainstream media are not covering the civil disobedience, protests, riots.... They clearly are covering it as we are all aware of them and been frequently talking about it.

😂😂😂😂😂 It's his business to portray 'caring' about people. It's the prime reason of how he made his many millions. Its the biggest reason how he keeps earning and building his profile all over the TV and papers. He 'cares' about the people about as much as the lovely sweet actress playing TV's Lorraine Kelly does.... He 'cares' about people about as much Jamie Oliver did when he was harassing the government about healthy food at the same time as making vast money from fronting Sainsbury's adverts for a plethora of unhealthy goods. He 'cares' about people about as much as Dr Doom, Hilary Jones does when he is wheeled out on the daytime tv circuit to do his weekly scaremongering piece... Wouldn't know genuine if it smacked him in the face.

Jesus christ here we go with the media conspiracy tangent....

How much are Morrisons paying their supply farmers per pint compared to the cheaper supermarkets you mention? Just what out of curiosity - what do you feel is a fair price for a pint of milk on the shop shelf? How much of that do you feel is fair to allocate between farmer supplier, transport and packaging costs and % profit for the supermarket. The constant drive for keeping cheaper prices on the shop shelf is all fine. Provided people accept that has consequences and in turn drives cheap and cheaper suppliers, cheaper and cheaper labour and cheaper and cheaper raw materials. We can't all be hypocrites demanding higher and higher wages, better and higher standards of living at the same time as demanding cheaper and cheaper goods. Something has to give.

Haha. Absolutely. I do love it when people bring up Martin Lewis as if he is some shining example. Some salt of the earth champion of the ordinary working people. Yes that will be the privately educated Martin Lewis..... The same Martin Lewis who got a wrist slap from Ofcom for promoting his businesses all over the telly under the guise of 'consumer advice'...... The Martin Lewis whose estimated net worth is around a nice fat £120+ million..... oh is that the Martin Lewis whose tried and failed to get a a nice comfy seat in that elitist of elitist institutions known as the House of Lords..... Honestly some people really need to wake up. They are being played like a fiddle. Martin Lewis is very good at promoting Martin Lewis and everytime he bigs up his "campaigning" his PR profile grows, his ego grows as his bank balance grows. There are lots of price comparison tools and money saving websites out there. There are lots of consumer resources and advice services supporting low earners out there. However most of those don't get the owners face plastered all over prime-time TV and constantly being wheeled out as the spokesperson for the ordinary man. What sort of deals and back handers are happening to keep HIS face centre of attention on all matters consumer and debt. You ain't telling me he's doing it all out the goodness of his heart. Struggling with cost of living? He certainly ain't. Typical example of the fickle and gullible nature of us lot. Have a go at the politicians and heads of corporations for being out of touch and not understanding the struggles. But somehow Lewis is seen and promoted as some great hero 🙄

You do realise that the vast majority of the hotel accommodation will be required by the travelling fans. I doubt most of them are looking for 5-star suites are they? Neither will the hundreds of film crew members, technicians, production assistants, runners, joiners, mechanics and builders accompanying the show. Even the Artists themselves are hardly going to be Mariah Carey are they? With exception of maybe London, I can't think of many major cities in the UK that have more than one or two uber luxury level hotels. The vast majority of accommodation is provided by mid market chains or economy operators. That is where the vast majority of the money comes from. Whilst I agree Sheffield getting such an event is probably slim, I don't think our hotel selection is any better/worse than most other big cities.

I don't need to give it more thought. The topic is airports. I am not going to have some meandering conversation banging on about levelling up or jobs or the economy or the disgusting capitalist corporations or evil Tories or the neoliberals or working poverty or how everyone outside the M25 is doomed to failure... I am not coming up with an alternative because I'm not in a position to. I have stated earlier that it will need to be an informed judgement involving multiple people and months, if not years, of consultation and research and planning to sensibly come up with such an idea. As an anonymous person on the internet I could propose a unicorn breeding park or UFOs spaceport or giant escalator to nowhere or Willy Wonka's chocolate factory but it doesn't mean it's a viable and sensible proposal. Now, again, trying to desperately drag this kicking and screaming back to the subject of airports.....You keep bringing up how there is some supposed desperate need that us Northerners must have our own Heathrow and portray DSA as being just a perfect location for it which means it must be saved. I have set out in detail why I disagree, why there is clear evidence it is failing and lagging behind even it's nearest rivals and how there is already, in existence, several alternatives far more established and adequately dealing with both much bigger passenger volumes and regular long haul flights. So I ask again. Faced with all those hurdles, pitiful passenger numbers, and hemorrhaging money - why do you feel that DSA has ability to turn itself around to commercially sound longevity and miraculously attract big-name flag carrier Airlines?

Wow. Property investment group knows how to run their business and make profit. Shock horror.

Yes yes blah blah we are all doomed. Can you get back onto the topic of airports which is what this thread is about. You always seem to have a habit of diverting the subject whenever you are challenged on something you have said. Now, why is it that you feel so strongly that Doncaster must be saved and invested in to becoming the new Heathrow when there are several alternative locations nearby which are already running established regular scheduled long-haul flights, have far better facilities with consistent high levels of passenger numbers and don't have the poor track record like DSA of repeatedly failing to secure big names, dismal passenger flows and failure to have a commercially viable operation. Is it really so unreasonable to suggest the DSA never fulfilled its purpose, never achieved it's required numbers and should be scrapped before even more wasted funds are thrown at it (particularly if they are potentially going to be taxpayer funds). Thank you. Did not realise that. Proves my point even more, when they do manage to bag a budget airline they can't keep it.

It is a multi-billion-dollar question and not something I can just chuck out an answer to without months and months of consultation, analysis, research and investigation. The point is, whatever project gets done it needs to be something which is viable. As people keep pointing out to you, a failing airport isn't on the agenda. You keep bringing up this issue about Heathrow but completely ignoring the posts where it is explained to you there are already several alternatives outside London. There are already several airports which can easily take capacity of long-haul flights and have been doing them successfully for several years. What possibly makes you think that Doncaster is even close to achieving such status? It has failed in its 17 year history to secure even one of the big budget Airlines. It has little to no legacy in running any sort of regular scheduled daily services and relies solely on cheap package tours charter flights. It's dismal passenger numbers speak volumes. It is not even close to achieving the sort of regular passenger flow that even its weakest of rivals is already achieving. The big flag carrier Airlines require daily passenger numbers. They require regular long haul travellers. They require regular business travellers. They require a flow to fill their massive jets. Then ain't going to come close to touching an airport that can't even keep contracts with a budget Eastern European airline.

No but you are certainly an ass. Stubbornness don't even come close.

Seems to me like the only person causing additional inconvenience and restricting your freedoms is yourself. What a self entitled tool you are. Oh I do hope the modern world keeps progressing at pace and you get even more barriers and petty inconveniences to have to deal with. Perhaps then the message might finally sink in and you will embrace change.

Have you never heard of places like Gatwick or Birmingham or Cardiff or Newcastle which already have established long haul routes and existing suitable runways to increase their flights elsewhere. Incidentally, Manchester might be labelled bogeyman number one in the papers right now but it's certainly not well past its sell-by date. In fact it's gone through a multi-million pound renovation and extension of its main terminal When there is snow on The Snake Pass there are alternative routes to Manchester including the M62. Life doesn't shut down just because there is snow on one main road. Let alone the train connections which I've discussed several times earlier. So let's stop with the dramatic like "it's unreachable". It is far from being "the only solution". In fact given DSA struggled to attract the big budget Airlines flying frequently to Europe what serious hope do you think they're going to have of suddenly getting commitments from airlines like Emirates, Etihad, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic or Qantas. Its pipe dream stuff which is not what we should be peeing away any sort of levelling up investment on. Goodness sake, if we are going to do something it needs to be a project which is actually required, viable and which people will use. Not some desperate vanity project trying to keep up with the neighbours by providing something which is already well and better catered nearby.

Economics does not just play a part, it is the primary factor. The future you are suggesting could take decades and will only work on the scenario that passenger numbers will continue to escalate the way they are. Given the shift towards alternative methods of transport, high speed rail, more social consciousness regards sustainability, the dramatic increases in home based working and reductions in business travel etc.. it is not beyond the realms of possibility that short haul flights particularly may start to decline. Those who have any sort of green agenda may well concede that transatlantic or Asia travel has no options but to fly- but they would be more than willing to take greener surface transportation for places say in Europe. Even more so if opportunities to do so increase over time and if it can ultimately be deemed easier and on par time wise compared to travelling to and going through all the the prolonged and challenging airport protocols pre and post departure. Also I think there needs to be some real context as to these passenger numbers. Yes DSA has a passenger flow (pre-covid) of around 1.5 million but that is nothing if you look at the bigger picture. I don't think people realise just how far behind that is compared to it's main rivals. For example, Leeds Bradford Airport which I'm sure many would consider is still a 'tinpot' operation handled approaching fouŕ million passengers in 2019. Liverpool Airport (despite being in the catchment of Manchester) still handled over 5 million passengers, as did East Midlands Airport. Birmingham airport is over 12 million. Then of course we have Manchester itself which is over 28 million. After 17 + years in operation, DSA is still pulling in less than half of even Leeds-Bradford, it's lost one of its main route operators and the only remaining one with any substance is a seasonal charter holiday airline whose own passenger numbers, even before Covid, were mostly year-on-year declining. The figures for Doncaster have not been consistent as even back in 2007 it had a peak of over a million passengers but just four years later was down to around 600,000. It took them three solid years to get their passenger numbers back up to over a million and even then we're still showing less than 1/3 third compared to some of the nearest rivals. Another big factor was that DSA repeatedly missed out breaking the market in the obviously popular budget carriers like Ryanair, EasyJet and Jet2 who chose to establish their operations at other airports in the region and are very unlikely to shift unless less DSA whores itself out (which of course it can't afford to do as it is already making massive losses) The fact is we have to many airports already. If one is far busier than others, then yes, the work needs to be spread around. But I simply do not accept that they will all have a sustainable future and it is very clear where the weak links are.

We have one. It's called Manchester Airport. It's a 40 mile drive away and has its own direct train routes from Sheffield, Meadowhall, Doncaster, Huddersfield, Dewsbury, and occasional ones stopping at little Dore station. There is already future plans to link up the airport station with HS2 which could get passengers from the airport into the East Midlands in around 30 minutes or even as far down into Central London in less than an hour. It is already well established with multiple long-haul routes into to North America, Canada, the Middle East and parts of Asia. Just exactly how many and how frequently are us Northerners jetting off long haul to desperately require another large airport in the region? As for the cheapo European package holiday flights once a year (which is what the vast majority of people around here will be travelling on) there is already a multitude of smaller airports in the region to cater for such need. All of them are within a short travelling radius from Sheffield. I ask again, what exactly is so lacking that absolutely requires that South Yorkshire must also have its own Airport? There are 25 passenger operational airports just in England alone. Yes some are bursting at the seams but there are others whose stats show they are averaging less than 100 passengers a day. Certainly on paper, that does not covince me we need to be building more airports in fact, it shows that we probably have far too many being used completely ineffectively. Spreading out the flights levels might be a more realistic solution but there will inevitably need to be trimming the fat of the obvious excessive and underused ones. At present, DSA seems ripe for that.

Why exactly do we need one? I think its more than a reasonable suggestion that if there was such a pressing and necessary demand it wouldn't be failing Where is the surge of passengers going to come from every single day to make it it sufficiently commercially viable? What exactly is so lacking which is not more than already and better covered by other airport operations within a short radius? Where are all these Airlines desperately, waiting, queueing up, ready to move in to start operations going to come from? How is the long-term trend for jet travel predicted over the next few decades? What is the market shift going to be? How will the future developments in travel and technology affect the long-term viability of such a airport? It's really not that simple as some childish approach to "...I want therefore I have.." Yes I agree that there should be more levelling up of the northern regions but it has to be done properly. 'levelling up' is sod all to do with whether we keep a failing budget airport or not. For goodness sake it is far more nuanced and complex. It has to take into consideration the blindingly obvious fact of where wealth is located, where private corporations want to be operating, where the biggest areas of population are located, what those local people actually need in their areas (very different from just fulfiling their vanity projects or deluded pipedreams). Finally, and most importantly in my opinion, whatever infrastructure, facility, operation or service does get built, it has to be something that the local people will be prepared to use frequently with sufficient spending of their own money in. Incientally, given the constant put downs, critiques and whinging which take place on here every time any new infrastructure project, commerce, stores, operation or building is announced, one has to question whether any 'levelling up' would even be appreciated if it does get built around here. Fancy shops open = it's all too expensive. It's just the same stuff as Primark and Poundland New distribution/industrial park gets built = wouldn't get out of bed for those jobs...... New housing development gets built = just cheap tacky boxes for Poshos with more money than sense.... New leisure facilities get built = who's gonna pay that for a pint? I'm not eating all that silly hipster food.... New Road network gets built = How dare you be killing the planet! Cars are evil! New rail network gets built = think of the trees! How dare my village/street/town be inconvenienced all that construction disruption! What a white elephant! Who wants to go there anyway? The fares will all be expensive! Round and round it goes.

It does bring trade into the city. As stated by others, there are still loads of free events all round the city accompanying the main Festival. Do you not think for one second that all those pubs and bars and nearby restaurants won't have the tills ringing with that influx of crowds?? The main festival itself, brings people from not just in the city but from elsewhere who require accommodation they will also use the pubs and bars and restaurants. When the main event finished for the day how many people do you think are going to suddenly surge into the after party events and supplementary events all around the city centre like the fringe venues all around West Street, Division Street Kelham Island..... The biggest reason for its move into Hillsborough Park is capacity. Issue that was obviously caused by ever-increasing popularity making Devonshire Green unsuitable. It may well be a Suburb but stop trying to portray like its a million miles away. The fact is Hillsborough Park is just a few miles outside the city centre. Christ almighty plenty of younger folk could walk that distance without much problem, for the rest, it's just short ride away on the primary tram line hence it's even more on brand with its name.. You appear another one seemingly determined to wallow in misery and hark on about the past. Grow up and learn things change. The festival is a bigger spectacle now than it ever was as some freebie event. It attracts far bigger names and seemingly ever increasing crowd numbers. Perhaps they shouldn't bother. Perhaps they should just hold the event in say Manchester or Nottingham instead. Hey, they wouldn't even have to change the name... hmmm Be careful what you wish for because that would certainly give you something to moan about.

Stop being so ridiculous. Who cares if it's no longer free. The entire event changed dramatically from what it used to be. Of course it used to be free when it was a piddling little festival hosting a handful of bands that no one heard of. Of course it was free when it was nothing more than a couple of thousand people casually wondering in and out whenever something took their interest. Over the years, the festival popularity has hugely increased which of course requires a more suitable location capable of handling tens of thousands, far more resources and staffing which all cost money. Add on the fact that as the festival grew so did the the level of artists who were performing. When you start getting well-known artists attending they also are going to want paying. Long gone are the days when some band turns up and performs for a couple of cans of stones. As others have said, there are loads of still free smaller gigs and events all over the city this weekend. Get out there and enjoy some of them. Alternatively stay home wallowing in misery about the obvious fact a big event is going to charge spectators for attending.

Let's clear up some of these assumptions you have made about places like Hoyland. A quick look at the current property market shows that the average house price listing for that post code is over £252,000. So they clearly can't all be downtrodden, overlooked, 0 hours, menial workers living there. As for your comments about warehousing, You make it sound like the decision to invest is some deliberate token gesture to us simple northerners. How about looking at the bigger picture and the fact there is a masses of flat empty land in the mavers valley which makes it the perfect place to put warehousing. They are certainly not going to stick it in the middle of a Peak District are they? There are other similar distribution parks across the country north south east and west. So can we stop with the picking on us mentality. How about the obvious fact that despite your rose tinted pipedreams, we don't manufacture in this country anymore because British consumers (like many parts of the Western world) are not prepared to pay for it. When it is far cheaper getting labour abroad on pennies a day to make our goods - we are quite happy to sit back and just buy them online. Something which of course in turn causes a rampant rise in the amount of online order processing, distribution and delivery services which requires even more (......you guessed it) warehousing. Do you not see the correlation there. Do you not think for a minute that we the people may have been a contributing factor to such circumstances well beyond simply blaming the government. Furthermore, despite your obviously snobbish attitude to such facilities, they do provide great job opportunities to those who would otherwise be out of work and their presence can have other secondary effects on the development of the wider community. Come the warehouses, come the housing projects, come with commercial developments, come the retail parks, come the service areas, come the brands and food vendors.... all of which bring money and even more jobs to an area. Some of those operations will of course require far more than just the shop floor staff. Wherever there is staff there will be managers who require administration workers. That high tech distribution equipment requires Mechanical Engineers who work under the authority of operations managers, controlled by the various facilities directors and all powered by systems programmed by various computer technicians....... none of which will be paid anything like what you deem a derisory minimum wage. We then also have the fact that Hoyland is conveniently placed in the middle of the commuter belt with easy access to motorways and short drives into either Barnsley, Doncaster or Sheffield with a multitude of other types of job opportunities for those who wish to do so. Now even putting all that aside, the fact is that if there is to be investment in the North it needs to be something that has a genuine viability. A failing tourist airport running charter flights a few times a year for bargain hunting sun worshippers does not necessarily make for guaranteed longevity nor benefits the wider community. Not everything is some Tory conspiracy. It's business. Yes of course compared to London we are poorer in comparison but that's because its the capital city. It is the same across the world. Wherever the centre of political, broadcasting, commerce and financial is located its going to receive more investment. Add on there is nearly 4 million more people living there than the entire population of the County of Yorkshire as another factor However im certainly not accepting your blanket application that deems everything north of Watford Gap poor and destitute. Sheffield Hallam ring any bells?? What about some of the areas of Leeds or Manchester and the massive investments in Salford, the Rural parts of North Yorkshire with properties in the millions, the Footballers Wives Valley all over Cheshire..... equally take look down south. Look at some of their poor towns which are all within the commuter belt of London. Look at how run down they are. Look at some of their employment issues. It's not all so wonderful and glorious streets paved with gold just because they have a regular service from Waterloo or Liverpool Street

That is one aspect I agree. But like all these small regional airports, which are often nothing more than a glorified bus station, they need regular scheduled flights with regular flowing passengers to make real money. Airports are vastly expensive things to run and cant survive by passengers travelling on a package charter flight once a year to Spain. For all the locality and convenience, I have only ever flown from Doncaster Airport once in the entire time it's been open. That was one holiday on a package directly throughthe operator who was dominating all of the flight slots at the airport at the time i.e. Thomson. Since then, out of the dozens of holidays and business trips I have made - I have always had to go elsewhere to a "proper airport" in order to get transatlantic or directly into European cities on a convenient scheduled basis without the fuss of restrictions such as only going out on Sundays and only being able to go back on Thursdays etc. It was already losing stiff competition with the cheaper Airlines well served elsewhere in the locality and covid has just about finished it off. Given the now shifting attitudes towards air travel generally, its not wholly surprising. In fact, there is a probability that some of the other small all charter dominated airports could go the same way. Whilst I accept a lot of the arguments regarding levelling up and Investment in the northern regions, the fact is we are still a small country. We have little to non domestic flight market when you compare us to places like America or Australia or Canada, we have a (albeit not perfect), good railway system and there is very little in the uk, even the extremities which can't be reached within say 12-14 hours with a vast majority of travel being significantly less than at merely a couple of hours. For comparative, I have relative living out in the industrial parts of Alberta, Canada whose nearest city of any substance is over 8 hours drive away. I have a client who is based in Idaho whose town's passenger train service to the next big city is just 3 times a week. We are lucky to have some parts of Europe which can be reached by train in equal or less time than it takes to go to an airport, check in, wait around, fly, check out and get into the city centre. If high speed rail gets going properly, it really will be the death knell to the majority of small airports.