This story is all spin and bull. When the contract was first awarded the local taxi drivers were banned from the airport as it was all about money. After a year of no taxis due to a disagreement over fees due to Covid LLAOL offered space in the drop off zone as long as the local drivers pay a barrier fee plus a yearly rental which is a 4 figure sum per car. Now the council is claiming the glory when they didn’t give a monkey’s or offer any support.
Sounds like reasonable commercial practice to me.