This is the classic case of why airports should be in the private sector, and not publicly-owned.
Luton Council is riddled with conflicts of interest. (Council v Party v Electors v Creditors v Airport v Concessionaires, etc).
Labour (and some Tory) Councillors have little commercial knowledge. Town Hall bureaucrats probably even less.
It's a recipe for the kind of disaster that LTNman has been explaining over recent years.