Why Bolton's towns will miss out if Manchester Airport dividend is used on town centre redevelopment load

The dividends received from Manchester Airport and Yorkshire Purchasing Company have traditionally been used for capital projects across the borough of Bolton.

The Council appears to have agreed to forfeit most of this income for the next 50 years for a single project – Bolton town centre. More than 50 per cent of the annual Manchester Airport dividend will be used solely to pay interest on the £100 million loan. After capital repayment as well, there will be very little left from these company dividends.

A £100 million loan at local level is an enormous amount of debt to be taken on by the residents of Bolton borough and it equates to nearly £900 per household. If the loan was translated to central government taking on such a loan then, relative to population it would equate to £25bn. It is astonishing that there has not been robust scrutiny of the proposed investment and consequent debt.

In the dash to beautify Bolton town centre from all directions, yet again the other towns in this borough lose out. It has to be remembered that the towns of Blackrod, Horwich, Westhoughton Farnworth, Kearsley, Little and Darcy Lever, along with Hulton and Bromley Cross, make up 50 per cent of the borough. It is these towns and areas in the borough that will be saddled with the debt and lose out because the above £4.5m plus dividend will be virtually wiped out – there will be little or no money left in the coffers to spend in these places.

Paul Heslop

Farnworth and Kearsley First