MPs have blasted the Government as the fall-out from a failed £4.65m bid to expand Durham Tees Valley Airport continues.

In a debate in the Commons Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland Labour MP Tom Blenkinsop asked why the Government had seen fit to give £145m from the latest round of the Regional Growth Fund (RGF) to national programmes involving HSBC and RBS while rejecting the airport bid.

He said: “Like many others I was under the impression that the Regional Growth Fund was meant for the regions so...why has £145m been given to the banks rather than the regions?”

The Leader of the House, Tory MP Andrew Lansley, said he could not comment on the particular reasons for a decision and said Mr Blenkinsop should applaud the “positive impact of the fund and its significant part in creating 1.3m new private sector jobs since the last election”.

Fellow Labour MP Phil Wilson, who represents Sedgefield, also asked why the bid to turn land south of the airport runway into a business zone for aircraft recycling, firefighter training and freight services had failed.

Mr Lansley again said he could not comment, but said that where there was a unsuccessful bid to the fund it was good practice to offer as much feedback as possible.

The airport's majority shareholder the Peel Group had claimed its plans could support 1,400 jobs and lever in potentially £40m worth of private sector investment.

Mr Wilson said: “This is still worth fighting for.

“There is potential there to develop the airport. Passenger numbers have been declining, but that is not just an issue for Durham Tees Valley Airport.”

Mr Wilson also turned his fire on Conservative MP James Wharton, who represents Stockton South.

On Wednesday Mr Wharton said the RGF was not there to subsidise projects by Peel.

He also said he was not surprised the bid failed as the airport “did not change a single word from their previous unsuccessful bid” under RGF.

Mr Wilson said: “There are differences and there was a lot more substance to the bid this time.”

Asked if he still had confidence in Peel, Mr Wilson said: “Knocking Peel is not going to achieve anything.

“We have got to support them as best as we can in order to secure a future for the airport.”

*How planned ‘south side’ developments at Durham Tees Valley Airport have failed to take off:

  • April 1997 – A planning application is submitted for a £340m air freight terminal and business park on 250 acres of land, potentially creating 6,000 jobs
  • April 1999 – Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott gives the plans the green light, overruling the decision of a lengthy public inquiry
  • May 2001 – Airport managing director Hugh Lang admits the freight terminal element is too ambitious and the airport cannot promise the predicted 6,000 jobs
  • April 2002 – The airport parts company with Moorfield which had put forward the proposals
  • May 2003 – Having taken a controlling stake in the airport Peel reveals plans for a 300-acre business park on the south side, creating 2,000 jobs
  • October 2006 – Mr Lang says the south side project could take 15 to 20 years
  • March 2008 – Previous plans for the south of the airport runway are shelved and replaced with plans for the £110m Skylink International Business Park. It too is later shelved due to a lack of funding
  • October 2012 - Peel fails with a £5.9m bid to the Government’s Regional Development Fund for an expanded freight operation on the south side
  • July 2013 - A second bid for £4.65m worth of RGF funding is again rejected by the Government.