Cabby some excellent posts !
Why did the darlington council leader come out with the comment that if the public dont use the flights what do you expect. Has he become a Peel convert?
I also wondered as to what planet Bill Dixon was on, I feel that it may be as simple as "open mouth without engaging brain" .
My view is that since 2003 the management of DTV has been totally inept, whether by those appointed to official positions at DTV, or those to whom they were answerable on whatever council committee.
Once they signed the conttact to sell 75% or whatever %age to Peel, they were out of their depth & from that moment on they lost control, just as in any business that once you have 75% control, and are thus able to pass "Special Resolutions".
Upon signing all the councils became ineffective in their ability to have any effective say in the management of DTV, simply that ! there is no conspiracy theory as to their subsequent rolls as some would suggest.
However I feel that there is a great deal that requires explanation as to the events "pre 2003" that led up to the signing of what has proved in retrospect to be a fundamentally flawed sale agreement in particular HL's involvement.
It has been noted on the forum that there are similarities to events "up the road", it should be noted that in this case an attempt to bring those legal representatives advising the airport failed, basically due to the incompetence of certain employees occupying high positions. Unfortunately given the time lapse and potentially that it may not be in the "best interests"
of the councils to go down this road, then nothing will come of this. One can't really say that Peel have now won & obtained delevopment land for virtually nothing.
More like Peel won back in 2003 when the councils signed the contract of sale.