Plans to create a "high-tech" new town with a population of 9,000 people in the south Tipperary countryside have been rejected by councillors.
The €1.5 billion plan envisaged thousands of houses and a "technology and enterprise campus" being built on a 162-hectare (400 acre site) just 2.5km from Clonmel.
The plans also included 100,000sq m (one million square feet) of office space, 21 retail units, a 100 bedroom hotel, two schools, two community centres and creches to be constructed over the next 20 years.
The developer had asked South Tipperary County Council to rezone the agricultural land to facilitate the project.
However, at a special meeting yesterday, councillors voted against a Fianna Fáil proposal to rezone the land. Fine Gael, Labour and most Independent councillors opposed the plan.
Speaking afterwards, Cllr Roger Kennedy of Fianna Fáil said the decision was "a lost opportunity" for Clonmel.
Don Davern, the chief executive of development company New Vision Developments, said he was "hugely disappointed that the elected members of South Tipperary County Council have decided to vote against the creation of 3,500 new jobs and the future development of Clonmel". Mr Davern, who is a son of former Fianna Fáil Minister and local TD, Noel Davern, said the council's decision "beggars belief". The Davern family own 39 hectares (96 acres) on the site.
He claims that the project had already attracted interest from "over 40 companies" and said "the members of the council have turned their back on an unprecedented opportunity to rejuvenate Clonmel without presenting an alternative to it and without justifying the rationale for their decision".
Mr Davern added that his company's "vision has already been recognised by another county and we are now considering our options as to how it can be realised".
The proposal was opposed by the South Tipperary county manager, Ned O'Connor, his senior planning officials and politicians from Opposition parties.
They say there is already adequate land zoned for both residential and commercial purposes in the Clonmel area.
Cllr Michael Fitzgerald of Fine Gael accepted that the proposal had "lots of merit" but said "before we start building a new town, let us look after the existing town first".
He said he had "walked the streets of Clonmel last Saturday" and was "disappointed and surprised by the number of 'for lease' and 'for rent' signs everywhere in the town".
Cllr Denis Landy of Labour said the proposal was "premature" and that "we need to ensure that existing town centres don't die" and "we need to drive development in a sustainable way".
Cllr Tom Ambrose of Fianna Fáil said Clonmel should have accepted the project and taken "an imaginative leap".
Following the debate councillors voted on the Fianna Fáil motion to rezone the land. It was defeated by 13 votes to nine.
Cllr Pat Norris of Fianna Fáil, who owns some of the land, left the chamber during the vote.