The Irish Hardware Association, representing small DIY stores, yesterday failed to get a High Court order quashing a planning permission for a 10,000 square metre DIY store at the Liffey Valley centre in west Dublin.
The store is being developed by Barkhill Ltd, a joint venture company backed by O'Callaghan Properties, a company involving Cork property developer Mr Owen O'Callaghan and the Duke of Westminster's Grosvenor Estates.
It was claimed the original planning application submitted to South Dublin County Council had been for five smaller retail units.
In a reserved decision yesterday, Mr Justice Butler accepted arguments by the council and Barkhill that a planning authority may grant permission for something substantially different than that originally applied for. He did not accept that a change from a development of five retail units to one large unit amounted to a materially different development.
Barkhill had applied in 1993 to develop the Quarryvale site, to be known as Liffey Valley. Permission was granted in April 1994 subject to 45 conditions. Barkhill lodged a number of applications to amend the permission.
One amendment sought to change part of the site to retail warehousing units. Permission was granted and on March 18th, 1998 an application was made for five retail warehousing units totalling 12,165 square metres. The units were to be arranged in a terrace under one roof.
Mr Justice Butler said it was clear from a request made in May 1998 by the council that it was unhappy with the application. It was not until March 1999 that a "reply" was given by Barkhill and, on any view, it proposed a radical alternation to the former plan.
Instead of five retail warehouse units there was to be a giant unit of 9,650 square metres with on one side a garden centre of 12,100 square metres and, on the other, a dry goods store of some 1,912 square metres.
The IHA submitted the planning permission was for a development materially different from that which was applied for and also complained that the matter was dealt with privately between the developer and the planning authority without any input from the public.