THE borough's play areas are set to be spruced up — and jet-setters are partly to thank.

Bury Council has been given a £3 million boost as a shareholder in Manchester Airport Group (MAG), after the airport made a record profit in the last tax year.

In June, town hall bosses said they would spend £500,000 improving 25 play areas and it has emerged that half of that cash has come from the airport's success. The other half will come from companies who have carried out building projects in the borough.

The remaining £2.75 million airport cash will be used to combat any extra spending cuts that may be needed after Chancellor George Osborne's November spending review.

All 10 Greater Manchester councils have a stake in the airport and the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities, which brings them together, decided to support MAG's bid to buy Stansted Airport for £1.5 billion in early 2013.

Bury Council leader, Cllr Mike Connolly, said: "The recently announced dividend from MAG demonstrates that the decision I took along with the leaders of the other Greater Manchester councils to restructure MAG and acquire Stansted Airport was a sound one.

"At Bury, we have decided to use £250,000 from the dividend to improve the play areas in our parks for the benefit and safety of our local children.

"The remainder of the dividend has been used in our budget plans to help mitigate against the impact of Government funding cuts.

"Without this, we would be having to make yet more cuts to vital council services."

This year's total airport dividend of £60 million is double the amount of last year's payout and comes after record numbers of passengers passed through the popular gateway.

MAG announced the payout as it revealed its figures for the year up to March 31.

Airport revenues rose by 10 per cent, from just more than £671 million last year to more than £738 million over the past 12 months and pre-tax profits went up from £241.9 million to £283.6 million.

Manchester City Council netted £33 million and £3 million was handed to the other nine authorities, including Bury.