COUNCIL chiefs have vetoed the selling of Manchester Airport as an alternative to implementing congestion charges in and around the city.

Manchester City Council leader Sir Richard Leese and chief executive Sir Howard Bernstein told Peel Holdings, who made the proposal sorry, Manchester Airport is not for sale.' In an open letter, they said that this suggestion was breathtaking in its simplicity and naivety' and accused Mr Whittaker, the chairman of Peel Holdings of not thinking of the long term ramifications of quickly selling off Manchester Airport.

Peel Holdings suggested in a letter of their own that if the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) allowed Manchester Airport to be sold off to a private company this would raise over £7bn for investment in public transport and the need for a peak-hour congestion charge of £5 a day would become obsolete.

They went on to say that the sale of Manchester Airport Group, MAG, could instantly raise the £3bn needed to improve public transport in the area, with a further £4bn available for private-sector investment.

John Hawkins, the head of the small policy and research unit at AGMA said: "There has been no discussion of the option of selling the airport in any of our meetings thus far. We're currently discussing plans for improving plans for public transport in the conurbation."

Manchester City Council owns 55% of MAG, with the other nine Greater Manchester councils owning five per cent each.

In their letter Sir Howard and Sir Richard said that Peel Holdings were letting their interests in other airports in the north of England such as John Lennon Airport in Liverpool and Robin Hood Airport in Sheffield cloud' their judgements.

They were adamant when they wrote to Peel that: "There is no way that the majority shareholders of Manchester Airport will ever let this proposal get off the ground."

This was in response to Peel's accusations that MAG had recently committed to an investment of £32m at Bournemouth International Airport, yet were willing to charge the people of Greater Manchester to use their roads.

Mr Andrew Simpson, the managing director of Peel Holdings said: "Manchester has no need to own airports in Bournemouth, Hull and Derby. How can they justify making the people of Manchester pay to use their roads?"

Mr Simpson was quick to deny that his company had any interest in buying Manchester Airport.

He added: "It would be farcical to say that we were urging the council to sell Manchester Airport because we wanted to buy it for ourselves. Private ownership could well prove to be beneficial for the airport but there would be many other companies in the forerunning to us. Many big deals have been conducted over the last six months such as AIG taking over London City Airport."

Last year, the airport generated £25m for the ten councils and Manchester warns that selling it could lead to council tax increases of 20 per cent in the city.

However, Andrew Simpson argued that if the airport was sold and the money placed in a high interest account, the dividends for each of the 10 councils would be far higher than they are at present.

MAG viewed the Peel plan as fundamentally flawed and did nothing to progress a debate of this nature.

Geoff Muirhead, the chief executive of MAG said: "Manchester Airport is a huge success story for the north west region. Year on year MAG has returned excellent profits for the ten shareholding authorities of greater Manchester. The same cannot be said of the privately owned Liverpool John Lennon Airport."

However, Trafford Council have said that Peel Holdings comments are a contribution to the ongoing consultation and that they are not in a position to comment until a decision has been made.

Colin Sinclair, the chief executive at Midas, Manchester's inward investment agency, whose role includes attracting businesses to the city said: "Manchester Airport is the jewel in Manchester city region's crown and whilst we're sure that many would like the opportunity to purchase it we should see the strategic development of both the airport and public transport systems as our dual goals. We shouldn't be talking of losing one to fund another."

In response to this Peel Holdings said: "Elected officials are about to put in place road charging across a region more than 10 times the size of the original London congestion charge zone.

"Peel's proposal is a genuine alternative to road charging and would fund massive transport improvements. We only wish to engage in a reasoned debate on the alternatives to ensure that the right decision is made for the region as a whole."