A FURTHER plan by the owners of Durham Tees Valley Airport to secure the future of the airport has been discussed in secret.

Owners Peel Airports attended a meeting of Stockton Borough Council's cabinet on Thursday evening to seek approval for its proposal - but that part of the meeting was held in secret due to "commercial sensitivity". It is not known what the plan is.

The proposal is part of an overall package of measures which are aimed at securing the airport's future, including the construction of a new access road, a £5m business park for aviation-related companies on the south side of the airport, and housing on the north side. The housing on the north side would provide one-off funding to develop Peel's business park.

Peel will run its new plan past all six local authorities in the coming weeks.

The part of tonight's meeting which was open to the public heard about the airport's ongoing plans - but did not discuss the new proposal.

Stockton council chief executive Neil Schneider said: "The council has continually recognised the importance of a thriving local airport.

"We would like to see more chartered flights but the airport have been very clear that is not the masterplan going forward."

A statement from Peel Airports said: "We are, of course, in continuing dialogue with our local authority partners in our shared objective of securing the future of Durham Tees Valley Airport and putting it on sound financial and business footing.

"We are currently updating all the local authorities on the progress being made in implementing the range of objectives set out in the airport masterplan.

"As part of the dialogue... we have also put forward to local authority shareholders a further proposal which we believe is an important part of a package of key measures aimed at securing the airport's future.

"The proposal, which is commercially sensitive in nature, is currently under consideration by all the local authorities and it would be wrong to comment further before all those considerations have been implemented."

The six local authorities own a collective 11 per cent stake in the airport, while Peel owns the other 89 per cent.

A spokeswoman for Stockton Borough Council said: "Details of the proposal are commercially sensitive and so, in line with standard exempt information procedures, cannot be considered in public."