One other point if it is LHR and its OUR £6Billion plus the other £11Billion from HAL that is eye watering.
One for Skip how long will it take for both HAL and us as tax payers to actually get a return ?
THAT in my book is a "Government Hand Out" so yes if its good enough fro LHR a "much smaller amount" is good enough for Manchester !
Fair point, I think two things come to mind.
1) Heathrow has had to rebuild T2 right after building the new T5, with T1 to come down and potentially a new runway to be funded. The airlines are already screaming blue murder about charges at LHR, BA are in dispute with HAL over what they see as a rip off. Hence taxpayer getting on board to part fund a major national infrastructure scheme.
2) Any ROI at LHR will be calculated off the back of a wider benefit to UK PLC as a whole, whereas MAN's benefit would not be as great. Hence, literally, national vs local.
I do agree there is a good case for the taxpayer getting involved at MAN as the wider strategic benefits to business of an improved airport are self evident. Let's be honest, LHR has been torn down and almost rebuilt from the ground up. MAN needs the same for T3 and T1, in my view. It suffers from what LHR had until recently, piecemeal development, a "that'll do" attitude.
#joineduptransportpolicy