Sort of. Public Safety Zones use to be a short dumpy triangle with its apex at the runway threshold and the base of the triangle not that far from the threshold. I cannot remember the precise dimensions, age and red wine has taken its toll. This is why the current Parkway rail station has its face at the angle it does, it butted up right up to the edge of the PSZ. Car parking was not restricted in the PSZ which is why the car park at Parkway is where it is.
Some time later, and again I cannot remember the timescales, PSZ's were changed to be a much longer and thinner triangle but t'other way round, the base was at the runway threshold and the apex out on the approach, somewhere near J10 I seem to think.
This doesn't mean it would not have been possible to build a terminal 'down the hill' but at the time (early/mid 90s) the airport simply didn't have the money. It's nothing to do with the Council as at the time the airport had been leased out.
Not to say, given the will and the money, it still couldn't be done.