Re the Councils and the Airport
All I can say as a Durham County Council Tax payer of many years, is that history shows whwnever the council has dabbled in anything remotely like a commercial activity, it has ended up as a net cost to the council tax payer (and the same goes for the district Councils that preceded the unitary authority). Elected councillors are (mostly) non-commercial, but they are also supposedly "expertly" advised by well paid officers who are mainly LA servants man and boy, and therefore also lacking in commercial experience.
Peel are just commercially smarter than the LA's generally. It would appear that whoever is currently pulling the strings for the Regional Growth Fund is commercially smarter than Peel.
LA's should stick to focussing on the things they are statutorily required to do - bins, social services, housing, etc. They have let go of the airport for a song, but that is possibly a better financial outcome than if they had carried on.
We are where we are. Move on.