§ Ms OsborneTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will forecast the capital investment programme for Manchester airport for the next 10 years. [59954]
§ Ms Glenda JacksonManchester Airport last published its long-term development strategy in May 1993, covering the period to 2005. This was updated in the Monopolies and Mergers Commission's quinquennial review of the airport's pricing and trading practices, published in July 1997. Appendix 9.2 of the MMC Report sets out the airport's capital investment programme until 2007–08, and its forecast for expenditure during the ten-year period from 1998–99 to 2007–08, which was then expected to total some £643 million. The airport is currently discussing a figure of around £686 million for this period with the Civil Aviation Authority and the airlines. I understand that the airport is also reviewing its long-term strategy in the light of developments since 1993, including the Government's intention to remove borrowing controls for financially sound local authority airport companies.