Manx
Yep fine although I have not posted on this thread for a month, which is why it now goes for days without any news even though there is much to report including construction updates that I have now abandoned, as even those updates brings out criticism about breaking lockdown even though I never have so I can't be bothered .
One piece of news that I will share seeing I am posting is that the government bailout of the Council has strings attached that will not go down too well regarding the airport. Remember that the Council has lent its airport company around half a billion pounds that LLAL can't pay back to the Council so the Council has lent LLAL a further £83m to help pay the interest payments on the loans that were borrowed from the Council, as well as a cost overspend on the Dart.
The offending passage from the government is below, which sounds to me that the Council might have to sell part of the airport off or sell off the loans. If they sell the loans and they can't be repaid by LLAL the Council would lose the airport to the lender of the loans.
There are further issues about the planning authority for the airport being the owner of the airport. Yes it has been noticed. It would be better for the Council to turn down the planning application from the airport operator to demonstrate that they can separate the conflict of interest but I doubt they will.
I will pop back once in a while. Bye for now
The Authority will undergo an external assurance review focused on its financial position, to be completed by the end of May 2021 unless a later date for completion is advised by the Department, and to be commissioned by MHCLG. The assurance review will also examine the Council’s commercial arrangement with Luton airport, and your ability to present a plan to Government for reducing the Council’s financial exposure to the airport, with the intention of it resulting in agreement between the Authority and the Secretary of State to address the review’s recommendations