A 10-year planning saga over the development of land beside St Anne’s Park in Raheny, Dublin, could be brought to a close next month with confirmation by An Coimisiún Pleanála that it can now rule on a controversial 580-apartment and nursing home scheme.
A High Court challenge taken by developer Pat Crean in relation to the validity of the Dublin City Development Plan, which had effectively blocked residential development on his land, has been dropped.
Mr Crean’s company Marlet hopes a recent intervention by Minister for Housing James Browne, directing councils to zone more land for housing, will result in a reversal of the “dezoning” of the land.
The withdrawal of the legal challenge against Dublin City Council, Ireland and the Attorney General, means a stay on the commission ruling on Mr Crean’s housing scheme has been lifted, and it intends to deliver its decision next month, it has told the council.
RM Block
The 16.5-acre site, formerly part of St Paul’s College at Sybil Hill, beside the park, has become one of the most contentious land banks in Dublin since it was bought by Mr Crean in 2015.
Multiple planning applications for apartments, which have been the subject of several judicial review hearings, have been made by Marlet and associated development companies.
The most recent was submitted in September 2022 to the city council under the new large-scale residential development (LRD) system for 580 apartments and a 100-bed nursing home.
The following month the council refused permission for the scheme due to concerns about the use of the land by light-bellied Brent geese which migrate from Canada for the winter months. The council had received more than 230 objections to Marlet’s plans.
Just days later, city councillors voted to block any further applications for large-scale housing developments on the site by zoning it for open space under the new Dublin City Development Plan.
Mr Crean’s Raheny 3 Limited Partnership in November 2022 appealed the refusal of permission for the LRD scheme to An Bord Pleanála. Then, in January 2023 it initiated a separate judicial review against the validity of the development plan. The zoning change, it said, amounted to an “unjust and disproportionate attack” on the company’s constitutionally protected property rights.
A stay was put on the planning appeal, pending an outcome of the High Court challenge. However, Mr Crean’s company has recently withdrawn its judicial review proceedings, which will allow An Coimisúin Pleanála, formerly An Bord Pleanála, to issue a decision on the case.
In a letter to the council in recent days the commission said it intended to issue its decision by September 29th.
A spokesman for Marlet said the company had withdrawn the High Court case in anticipation of “positive changes” in relation to the zoning of land for housing in the city.
In recent weeks Mr Browne issued new guidelines to local authorities telling them to zone more land for housing. It is expected councils will be asked to first focus on any land which is already serviced by infrastructure such as water and sewerage, or are close to public transport.
The Raheny land, which has previously secured planning permission, would fall into this category, Marlet believes.
“The positive changes around land uses and zoning, encouraging councils to rezone lands that are serviced and where homes can be built, was a key decision why we felt these lands now have a more straightforward path to follow” than the High Court route, it said.
Local Green Party councillor Donna Cooney said she welcomed the developer’s decision to abandon the court challenge and anticipated the planning commission would uphold the council’s decision to refuse permission for the 580 apartments and nursing home.
She acknowledged the need for housing and said the “possibility of a land swap” between the council and the developer could be considered, but she said: “I hope that these lands will go back to their original purpose as playing fields.”
