Well, down here in Sassenach-land we already have this situation with the now-infamous Part P -- Councils insisting that work carried out by non-registered people has to be tested independently and the applicant must pay for that himself (in addition to paying the building regs. fee!), even though the ODPM issuing the rules has clearly told them they're not allowed to do that and to stop.
We contacted the local planning department, to be on the safe side
That was their mistake. For something as simple as this they should have just got on with it!