Dublin City Council is preparing potential legal action against An Bord Pleanála over its decision to grant a large-scale build-to-rent scheme in a regeneration area, against the council’s strong opposition.
In what would be a rare case of judicial review proceedings taken by the council against the board, it is assessing a challenge to the board’s approval of 314 build-to-rent apartments at former industrial lands in Finglas in an area designated for more than 2,000 new homes.
The board last August granted permission to Jamestown Village Ltd for the build-to-rent scheme of five apartment blocks rising to six storeys at Jamestown Road industrial estate in Finglas, Co Dublin.
Council planners had urged the board to reject the scheme saying it would represent ad hoc and piecemeal planning in an area which had been designated for major regeneration and was currently undergoing a master plan.
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Assistant council chief executive and head of planning Richard Shakespeare said he was “seeking legal advice with a view to initiating a judicial review of the Board’s decision”.
In a letter to councillors he said the decision undermined good planning and had the “potential to create a precedent for haphazard development”.
The Jamestown industrial estate was in June 2021 rezoned to facilitate its “rejuvenation” as a residential and enterprise zone and its designation as a Strategic Development and Regeneration Area (SDRA).
A master plan for the 43 hectare site, within which the build-to-rent development would be located “is currently being finalised” by the council Mr Shakespeare said.
“I am extremely concerned that the decision of ABP to grant this particular planning permission, without the benefit of a master plan for the overall site, undermines the plan-led, integrated and sustainable approach to urban regeneration, which the City Council have been pursuing for a number of Development Plans,” Mr Shakespeare said.
“The decision of the board has the potential to create a precedent for haphazard development in this and other regeneration areas, without planning for the provision of necessary supporting social and physical infrastructure.”
The board did not respond to requests for comment.
The council previously succeeded in two legal challenges to the board’s decisions on the council’s docklands Strategic Development Zone (SDZ).
The board had ordered the council to amend the SDZ to allow greater heights in the docklands. The council did so, but its amendments were rejected by the board as “minimal”.
Last November An Bord Pleanála conceded its decision rejecting the council’s proposals concerning height increases for some tower blocks in Dublin’s docklands had to be overturned.
Earlier the council had taken proceedings against the board for granting permission to developer Johnny Ronan for a 13-storey tower which breached the heights permitted in the development zone. The court quashed the board’s decision.
The council had previously initiated, but then dropped judicial review proceedings against the board’s refusal to allow it to move the planned location of the bridge over the Liffey in the docklands zone.
The council also considered taking a judicial review of the board’s 2018 refusal of the College Green plaza plans, but instead decided to submit a new planning application. The application is expected to be lodged next year.
