Mr. Gavin Lawlor:

Or for that matter, the land owner. If land owners have gone to the bother of doing a section 5 reference to say they do or do not need planning permission for X, they get an answer that says they do not need permission and the planning authority forms a different view, enforces it, and says it is going to take them to court, or a neighbour does, they then cannot use the section 5 reference in defence.