the place is not going to close any time soon and it does have huge potential.
Sorry, but I read this as 'the place does have potential to be propped up and made to look as if it is alive for another decade or two (but it will not develop)'. How can the runway be extended both ends? When you are at the start of 32, you have a bewildering view over the vista of the city. You do not want that- you want flat ground thank you very much! Operationally (for pilots and aeroplanes), the place is totally inadequate, verging on dangerous. Socially, for local employees and local passengers, it's fine. Any extension southeastwards will be adding a lump to the side of the hill. I assume that is why the runway has such a dip after the threshold- it allowed an extension that could be made out beyond the other side of the slope to the south east. But any further extension will make it like a navy carrier's stern. Run off the end of 14 or undershoot 32 and you are so doomed it's not true. Working on the principle that someone someday will run off the end of any runway, we are just waiting for the fatal accident that is pre-ordained. And extension will make the effect so much more severe when it happens.
The RAF have progressively moved out of bases in Yorkshire and elsewhere. They are grabbed by local councils as 'business parks'. This is criminal where a beautiful runway is wasted. SURELY there is a retired base that can be developed at low cost into a new Leeds airport?