Regional Development Correspondent An Bord Pleanala has turned down a proposal for a major shopping and commercial "town-centre style" development for Dundrum, Co Dublin.
The development, estimated to cost in the region of £200 million, was to include a 150-bedroom hotel, a multiplex cinema with 16 screens, and a range of shops, offices and leisure facilities.
The application was made by Castlethorn Construction, which bought the site between Ballinteer Road and the proposed Dundrum by-pass three years ago.
Ballinteer Road will eventually link up with the South Eastern Motorway, which is currently being appealed to the Supreme Court by landowners.
Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council had been largely supportive of the development and had upgraded the site from a district centre to a town centre.
The council has earmarked Dundrum as its second town after Dun Laoghaire. The rejection also ends council hopes that the developers would make a significant contribution towards the cost of the Dundrum by-pass.
Government chief-whip, Mr Seamus Brennan TD, had also proposed that the by-pass be put forward as a "public private partnership", which could be part financed by the centre's developers.
However, while the board turned down the application it did find the "zoning would be appropriate and the proposed development would be acceptable in terms of traffic safety". The board objected to the extension of the village in a manner which would be "out of character" and criticised the "monolithic nature of the development, particularly the main block. The board also found the removal of an old mill house and a mill pond to be undesirable.
Ms Olivia Mitchell, the Fine Gael spokeswoman on traffic, said the decision "spells further traffic disaster".
