TAMESIDE Council has joined other authorities in asking Manchester Airport to return its former dividend scheme.
And the figure it is missing out on has been put at more than £6 million a year.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic struck, profits of the airport were divided between the 10 councils making up what is now the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.
Tameside Council holds a 3.22 per cent shareholding in Manchester Airport Holdings Ltd, which is part of the Manchester Airport Group.
In 2018, it pocketed its share of £32.1 million, its 2019/20 accounts revealed it received £6.4 million – but that stopped.
And Cllr Jack Naylor, executive member for finance and resources, revealed Tameside is not he only authority asking for it to start again sooner than the current 2028/29 estimate.
He told the meeting of the council’s place and external relations scrutiny panel on Tuesday, February 4: “My counterpart in Manchester is very, very keen on having that dividend come back a lot quicker than 2028/29.
“I know a lot of Greater Manchester councils are pushing and we’ll continue to push.”
The figures Tameside is missing out on came after Cllr Peter Robinson asked: “Have we started receiving the dividend from the airport yet? If not, when will we expect it and are we going to get any back pay?”
Tameside’s director of resources Ashley Hughes revealed: “We’ve not had the old dividend that happened pre-pandemic.
“We’ve had one-off extra ordinary dividends from them. We had about £300,000 in 23/24 and we’ve had about £400,000 from the car parking.
“We don’t expect things to go back as they were until about 2028/29. That’s the earliest they’re saying we’ll get dividends back.
“There won’t be back pay. It’ll essentially be shareholder distributions. Every meeting I have with them, I push them to bring it back faster.
“We need to see that coming back.”