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Old 26th Apr 2019, 09:21
  #1355 (permalink)  
SWBKCB
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Northumberland
Posts: 8,449
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Originally Posted by N707ZS
Here's a piece from the local rag about who paid for two banner towing flights with a banner saying "Ben has bought the airport". First one backfired as it had to fly from Fishburn a local grass strip! Other than this we know nothing.

https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/t...sside-16181272
As well as the knock about stuff about the banner towing, this bit is interesting:

David Soley, deputy chairman of the LEP (local enterprise partnership), told councillors he had been given "specific responsibility" for the airport and revealed he'd had meetings with Stobart staff. Mr Soley added: "I was in on the meeting in Middlesbrough and I made a speech saying that was the first day of the airport - and that the purchase was, dare I say, the easy bit. What we've got to do is make sure we control it, manage it, and we don't have the tail wagging the dog. Because Stobart is there as an operator, it doesn't mean we hand over everything to them - we've got to make sure we're in the driving seat and that we control it. "It's not just getting airlines in - it's the whole site and there's lots of things we to look. It needs to be open and transparent."
Looks like the political issues will rumble on....
Cllr Haszeldine said: "Gerrymandering from higher up meant that politically, it was very difficult to call in this investment plan because you either took in all of it or none of it. I think that was a deliberate ploy, not by officers, but other areas within this building to make it very difficult to call it in. I don't think we did enough or there was enough information around the airport deal. He added: "We failed slightly in our role in bringing that to the attention of the public. "It was dealt in such a way that it made it very difficult for other members of the cabinet to make a fair and proper assumption on the deal. That became very clear when the full plan for the airport was not released until days or maybe a week before the investment plan was done and decisions had to me made."
I think he's referring to the way the airport deal was bundled with the authorities whole investment budget, rather than reviewed seperately.

'Stop moaning' mayor urges as claims of 'mistakes' made in Durham Tees Valley Airport deal
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