Dannyboy - If Luton Council were to suddenly find itself with a £1bn pile of cash, I imagine all kinds of corrupt people would suddenly appear wanting a slice. Think of the poor man who wins the lottery, goes crazy with spending, burns through their winnings in 10 years and finds themselves broke at the end of it. The current structure of receiving a more modest annual dividend keeps Luton council from getting too excitable
Norway used to be a poor country until the 1950s. They had the self control to set up a trust fund for all the money from oil/gas - so that when the North Sea reserves run out, there would be something as a fallback for their economy. There are other countries in the world where Govt has been spendthrift with oil revenues and it all ended up in tears.
I doubt Luton councillors hoping for re-election have the same degree of self-control - and even if they do, Westminster might find itself looking greedily at the cash with its own ways of squeezing LBC