The High Court has granted leave for two plaintiffs to seek a judicial review of the Meath county development plan. It was granted on the grounds that the plan contravenes planning policy for the Greater Dublin Area (GDA).
The plaintiffs are Mr Michael Smith, national chairman of An Taisce, who is acting in a personal capacity, and Mr Tony McEvoy, an independent member of Kildare County Council.
They claim a series of land rezoning decisions taken by Meath County Council and incorporated in the new county plan failed to have regard for the GDA Strategic Planning Guidelines.
These guidelines, which were promulgated in 1999, have had statutory effect since January 1st under last year's Planning and Development Act. In other words, they have the force of law.
Meath County Council had already been requested by the Department of the Environment to provide justification for departing from the strategic guidelines in relation to Clonee, Dunboyne and Ratoath.
Under the guidelines, these areas form parts of a "strategic greenbelt", where only local needs were meant to be accommodated. The aim was to concentrate development in designated centres such as Navan.
Mr Justice Kevin O'Higgins accepted the plaintiffs' argument that they were entitled to seek a judicial review of the new county plan on the basis that it "patently exceeded" the guidelines' population targets.
The case is expected to be heard early in the new law term, which starts in two weeks.
Mr Smith established his locus standi to take the case on the basis that he had been "centrally involved" in the deliberations of the Meath, Kildare and Wicklow planning alliance, which opposed the rezonings.
Mr McEvoy is one of Kildare's members of the Mid-East Regional Authority, which covers the three outer counties of the GDA, including Meath, and could therefore be held to have an interest in the matter.
They are being represented by Mr Colm MacEochaidh, the barrister who is involved in a newly established anti-corruption forum, which may field its own candidates in the next general election.
