Would the wording “…council have agreed” not suggest there is some agreement in principle to the council acquiring the site, it would appear they have no current legal position to allow or disallow anything. Peel presumably don't want to renew a lease on the lighting site they don’t own and won’t be used for 6-24 months if the airport were to reopen, so remove any equipment and leave it to new owners to take on the lighting site lease when required. Seems plausible.