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Unfortunately, whilst this case has received more publicity than planning enforcement cases usually do, mainly no doubt because of its history of intrigue, the sad truth is that it is not an uncommon tale of woe that LPAs have had to contend with for many years and certainly since the 1971 Act.
Until politicians grasp the nettle and make development without express planning permission a criminal offence per se we will continue to see this sort of farcical abuse of tax payers money.
The system is not without its parallels elsewhere, viz the Child Support Tribunals, where the self-employed can create a fiction of a minor change of circumstances, seek a reassessment and then appeal it, with little or no cost to themselves, at huge public expense and inject delays of many years into their payment liability for their children. The new CMS is the same old toothless dog with a shiny new name tag.
Both areas suffer from a political naivety which has created deeply flawed systems wide open to the sort of abuse demonstrated by the instant case. It's time for Parliament to do what it's supposed to do and get a grip.