Developer brings High Court case over plan to levy tax on north Dublin site

A developer has issued High Court proceedings challenging the inclusion of its 25 hectares of north County Dublin lands on a list set to be charged the new land hoarding tax.

Portmarnock Real Estate Developments Limited and St Marnock’s II DAC say An Bord Pleanála acted beyond its authority in deciding their south Portmarnock lands were correctly pegged for the new Residential Zoned Land Tax (RZLT), which is set at 3 per cent of a site’s market value.

The board predominantly upheld Fingal County Council’s decision to include the lands on its list of sites where the RZLT applies map.

The request for High Court judicial review of the appeals board’s finding follows a similar move by MKN Properties, which last month brought proceedings over the inclusion of its 15 acres in Swords on Fingal County Council’s RZLT map.

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The new tax was due to be charged and levied for the first time next February, but was postponed for a year by Minister for Finance Michael McGrath in Budget 2024 this week.

New figures show landowners have lodged 644 appeals with An Bord Pleanála over the tax, with 459 cases decided. The board upheld the local authority’s decision in 75 per cent of cases.

Portmarnock Real Estate and St Marnock, which have offices at Leeson Close, Dublin, allege the appeals board “misconstrued” the legal requirements of the 1997 Act in determining their lands should be included in the RZLT map.

The language of section 653B of the Act required An Bord Pleanála to consider the “totality of the land – that is the entirety of the developable area – and to consider whether there was sufficient service capacity available for such development”, the developers say.

The owners claim the public wastewater infrastructure is at capacity and permission for a required new pumping station by Uisce Éireann is under appeal. An inspector for An Bord Pleanála, they say, acknowledged that a new pumping station may be required to facilitate “full development” of the area.

A pumping station in south Portmarnock requires planning permission and consent from third-party landowners, the developer claims.

Further, the developers say, the local area plan prohibits the development of more than 100 dwellings on the site until the pump station and network are completed.

The case was entered into the High Court’s planning list this week on the application of the developers’ senior counsel, Neil Steen, with Eoghan Foley BL.

Mr Justice Richard Humphreys also granted permission for the developers to pursue their action through the court.

Before the board, the landowners argued, among other things, that the pace of development was being “stymied” by an ongoing High Court challenge to a planning permission for 172 dwellings and restricted by a statutory requirement to stagger development.