Council boss's fury as airport hushes up deal
Oct 23 2008 by Paul James, The Journal
NEWCASTLE MP Jim Cousins last night threatened to raise in Parliament the secret deal between Newcastle Airport and its former chief.
He spoke after the seven councils with stakes in the airport put a wall of silence around the out-of-court settlement.
The Journal yesterday revealed there had been a settlement on the eve of a High Court case in which the airport was suing ex-chief executive John Parkin and the estate of the late Lars Friis, its former finance director, over £8.5m bonus pay. No details have been revealed, though public money is involved.
The Journal asked the five Tyne and Wear authorities and Northumberland and Durham County Councils about their interests in the airport, in which they collectively hold 51% of shares.
Asked about their roles in the panel which authorised the payments to Mr Parkin and Mr Friis and whether the system has been changed since, none would comment.
We made repeated requests for answers and referred the issue to the councils’ Freedom of Information officers.
They also refused to comment on the deal struck on Tuesday and whether they had been told or consulted beforehand.
Nor would they say what they might receive from the settlement, how much they expected or how it would be used.
Only South and North Tyneside would say how they had used the millions from the 2006 deal that set off the chain of events. In December 2006, Mr Parkin oversaw the remortgaging of the airport, yielding £80m shared by the councils and Copenhagen Airports, which owns 49%.
A North Tyneside spokeswoman said £7.8m of the £10.1m was in the council’s reserves, with the remaining £2.3m used for its “strategic investment plan” last year. A South Tyneside spokesman said it had set aside the £8.2m for liabilities the council could face, such as equal pay.
Copenhagen Airport refused to comment.
Speaking off the record, some councillors doubted South Tyneside’s shareholder leadership role should continue in light of the row. Newcastle Central MP Mr Cousins said the secret deal could be raised in the Commons if airport bosses failed to give answers. “We must go to the airport authorities and South Tyneside Council and if we draw a blank, we will have to come to Parliament, because there is a public interest issue.”
Newcastle North MP Doug Henderson said: “The circumstances surrounding the events that led to his leaving the airport should be made public and any finance figures should be made public.”
His Blyth Valley colleague Ronnie Campbell said: “If it is public money, they have to come clean. They have to tell us how much they have lost.”
For previous stories about John Parkin and his departure from Newcastle Airport, click the links below
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