"If there is one principle of planning law more firmly settled than any other, it is that matters of planning judgment are within the exclusive province of the local planning authority or the Secretary of State, " the judge added.
The Good Friday Agreement settled the dispute between London and Dublin about sovereignty, with both governments and the major political parties recognising the "principle of consent", namely that it's up to the will of the majority voting in a referendum whether Northern Ireland remains in the UK or becomes part of Ireland.