Doncaster Council says it has received overwhelming public support for its plans to secure legal protection for a number of buildings at the closed Doncaster Sheffield Airport.

The Article 4 directions would mean that any developer would have to secure individual planning permissions from the council to demolish the control tower, fire station, hangars, cargo and transit sheds, terminal building, or to build on the runway at the site, which was closed by owners Peel Group last autumn.

The protection would decrease the site’s appeal for development for anything other than aviation activity, and allow the council to press ahead with their own plans to lease the airport from Peel and re-open it.

The Article 4 proposal will be discussed at a meeting next week and could be approved immediately to preserve the airport’s operational capacity.

The direction, which would be made under the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 (as amended), is a means by which certain rights which would otherwise be permitted without needing to apply for planning permission can be removed. By removing specific permitted development rights, a planning application would be required to approve any proposal to demolish buildings at the airport, and any application would therefore be subject to the normal national and local policy considerations and key statutory consultation.

Over 96 per cent of people who responded to a public consultation on the Article 4 plans supported the move to safeguard the site.

The council claim that Peel indicated certain buildings were at risk of demolition, but did not provide further detail.

Doncaster Sheffield Airport: 'Overwhelming support' for council's bid to preserve control tower, terminal and old RAF Finningley runway to protect them from development