It is not a ridiculous and bureaucratic passenger cap. They are just following the conditions of the previous planning application. They got away with it over the breach of the night noise limit for a number of years but now they have been rumbled.
I have no sympathy as LLAOL and the council have brought this on themselves. The council offered massive incentives to LLAOL to grow passenger numbers as fast as possible. They knew what the limit was and how fast it was approaching yet they wait until the 11th hour before doing something about it. Maybe they were arguing about whether LLAOL, LLAL or the council should put in the planning application to bust the councils own limit. Maybe the council has had to offer LLAOL more incentives to do their dirty work so their "dodgy" planning committee can approve it.