Yes indeed the terminal and airport expansion will go to the Planning Inspectorate to be decided by them but the council has separated out the access route and passed their own planning application. The Secretary of State has a period of time to call in the planning application if he wishes.
The new terminal and infrastructure will be paid for by the new franchise which starts in 2031. It will be the case that a new franchise will be won well in advance of 2031 but starting in 2031 with the expectation that they will be also paying off the £225 million the council is borrowing for the Dart and the other £75 million of LLAL loans as all loan payments are timed for for payment in both 2028 and 2031 as the existing LLAOL franchise was extended by 3 years.
The question then becomes how much income will the council get off the franchise holder for each passenger after all the bills have been paid. They might find that twice as many passengers brings in the same income or less. I also think the next lease will be more like 99 years.
Last edited by LTNman; 29th Mar 2019 at 12:10.