Our mayor is a grey-haired granny. But she's Labour so going nowhere and does not have to worry about things like credibility, or competence. Hopefully, she is getting good advice from someone.
The Leasehold is quite a clever move. While I'm not sure what rent is attached, it does mean that if it fails as Peel seem to expect they then get the land back to develop, and the planners objections will likely be far reduced given another commercial attempt to run the airport.