Objectors say application is `invalid'

The proposed Spencer Dock development is not a valid application, the Bord Pleanala hearing was told yesterday

The proposed Spencer Dock development is not a valid application, the Bord Pleanala hearing was told yesterday. Mr Dermot Desmond's team and An Taisce said the application was for full planning permission, but as the plans put forward were not detailed enough, their application was invalid. Mr Michael O'Donnell, legal adviser to Mr Desmond, said: "The plans and particulars have not been designed to full." Mr Michael Smith, for An Taisce, added on Mr Kevin Roche's submission last week: "He spoke a lot of having scope to do this and that . . . What the developers may apply for is irrelevant. What the developers have applied for is everything."

Mr Rory Brady SC, for the developers, said the Corporation had considered the application valid and full and so it was not appropriate to object now. "The planning authority makes a decision as to whether site notices, copies of drawings and plans are valid. Once it makes that decision it determines the application is valid."

Objectors said developers had not given due regard to the docklands master plan. Mr Brady said the developers "should not blindly follow the master plan, nor should they ignore it".