An Bord Pleanála has moved to close a planning loophole that might have allowed property developers in Dublin's docklands area to escape their obligations to provide social and affordable housing.
In a judgment last week, the board refused additional planning permission that was granted by Dublin City Council last July to the Spencer Dock Development Company Ltd (promoted by Treasury Holdings), in relation to the modification of two apartment buildings within the development.
The overall development had already received "fast-tracked" Section 25 planning permission from the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA). However, under the loophole, the developers of Spencer Dock could lodge a second and separate application for additional development works with Dublin City Council.
This could allow it to increase the size and value of the buildings in question, but contrary to what had been agreed under the planning permission received from the docklands authority.
A second such "competing" planning application, if approved by the board, could also have meant the developer was no longer obliged to adhere to the plans for social and economic regeneration of the area.
These include a requirement that 20 per cent of all new homes would be social and affordable housing.
In this context, the ruling is seen as an important test case which sets down a marker for any future plans by developers to renegotiate with Dublin City Council their Section 25 social housing commitments.
In its judgment, the planning authority states it had decided not to accept the recommendation of its own inspector in refusing the permission.
"It is considered that an extension to a development being constructed under the authority of a Section 25 certificate which is not in accordance with the terms of the certificate would deprive the development of its exempted status, thus rendering it unauthorised development," it states.
The ruling has been warmly welcomed by a spokesman for the docklands authority, as well as the deputy lord mayor of Dublin, Cllr Aodhan O'Riordan. He claimed yesterday that if An Bord Pleanála had not ruled against the planning permission granted by the council, it would have had had the potential to undermine "the entire masterplan" for the Dublin docklands.