"do you fancy co-sponsoring a formal complaint on the bypassing of the planning process by the county council ?"

I'll sign anything, me. And if you want examples of planning processes not being bypassed but twisted outrageously so someone can make shedloads of dosh I can supply a list.

Ten-thousand name petitions don't work as they somehow don't get presented to the planning committee.

On paper, the Local Government ombudsman is your man if it's maladministration (i.e. misapplication of their own rules). We have heritage protection legislation that works immaculately well on paper so I expect he does as well.