Looking at the CAA figures I'd say LBA is flatlining in the first half of 2014. I think the peak (0630-0800 departures) is at capacity in the summer and that is the effective constraint. Until the taxiway is extended to enable increased runway capacity, further growth will be limited. There will be no payoff for the owners from better landside facilities until they can push more traffic through.
I think the comparison with MAN is not legitimate. There is only room for one hub airport --a weak hub at that--in the North. Fairer comparisons are with LPL, EMA and BRS, the championship airports. A couple of years ago we were down to one scheduled hub connection via AMS. With the news last week we now have AMS, LHR and DUB. This is progress.