BOLTON Council is set to benefit from the huge success of Manchester Airport to the tune of £3million.

The council is a shareholder in the airport, along with the nine other authorities in Greater Manchester — and is set for its biggest annual windfall to date.

It has already received £1 million of this year’s dividend, which was used in this year’s budget to help with the effect of government-enforced spending cuts.

But council chiefs will now receive an additional £2 million injection which will be put into its reserves and could potentially be used to combat any additional spending reductions which may arrive with Chancellor George Osborne’s November spending review.

This year’s total airport dividend of £60 million is double the amount of last year’s payout and comes after record numbers of passengers passed through the popular gateway.

Manchester Airports Group, which is part owned by the 10 Greater Manchester councils, announced the payout as it revealed its figures for the year up to March 31.

Airport revenues rose by 10 per cent, from just more than £671 million last year to more than £738 million over the past 12 months and pre-tax profits up from £241.9 million to £283.6 million.

This has led to the increased payout for the councils, with Manchester City Council netting £33 million and £3 million being handed to the other nine — including Bolton — picking up £3 million.

In previous years the council has spent the cash on specific areas such as free school meals, but leader Cliff Morris said it was important to have something in the reserves for any budgetary challenges that may lie ahead.

He said: “We have already used £1 million in our recent budget to help us with the spending cuts we had to bring in.

“You don’t know what is going to happen in the future so we will keep the remaining money to one side in our reserves.

“We have been involved with the airport for a long time and this proves that is has been a very good investment — over the years it has brought in between £30 and £40 million and that can only be good for the citizens of Bolton.”