Perhaps instead a case of the regulator wanting to give themselves more powers for the future but realising they cannot achieve this without permitting the status quo to carry on for the time being. If any airport should experience a change in operations in the future (quite likely as life is rarely constant) then the CAA magically gain the power to tell airport operators what to do about heavies, while preventing any bad news appearing in the press now when the new rules are published.
A nothing document in 2013 but come 2018, likely to be non-trivial in its impact on airport operators.