Groundhand - fair point, but I hope we can agree that a ground operator can get out of his obligations at a far lower cost than an airport operator can get out of his.
Re speculative airport development - all airports, MAN for example, were speculative at the start. Finningley and STN were also speculative, the latter perhaps less so given the lack of capax at LON airports, but FIN was surely speculative given the spare capax at all its neighbours.