West Dublin developer Mr Jim Mansfield is facing the prospect of having to demolish his partly-built convention centre near Saggart after An Bord Pleanála decided to refuse permission for the €50 million scheme.
Contacted yesterday by The Irish Times, MrMansfield said he was obviously disappointed that the board had upheld an appeal by An Taisce against his plans for a 5,800-seat facility at the Citywest Hotel complex.
"We will have to look at what avenues are open to us," he said. But when asked if he would now be demolishing the substantial steel structure on the site, he replied: "I've no idea yet. We will have to look at the decision."
Mr Abe Jacobs, senior planner with South Dublin County Council, said what stood on the site was now an unauthorised development. He told RTÉ radio the council was hoping that it would be removed "by agreement".
The council is already prosecuting Mr Mansfield's company, HSS Ltd, for proceeding with construction work before the deadline for appeals had expired. The case is listed for hearing in the Dictrict Court on June 12th.
Mr Mansfield's only option to avoid demolition would be to seek a judicial review of An Bord Pleanála's decision. But even though the board's decision departed from the planning inspector's recommendation, such cases can only be taken on points of law.
By a majority of seven to one, the board decided to refuse permission on the basis that a convention centre billed as being of national or international importance should be located in Dublin city centre or another major town centre.
It noted that the proposed location was outside the urban area, remote from public transport, infrastructure and other complementary facilities. It would lack ancillary supporting services and be reliant primarily on private transport.
Accordingly, the board considered that the proposed development would be inappropriately located, and would also contravene strategic planning guidelines for the Greater Dublin Area aimed at reducing the growth in transport demand.
The second reason given was that the proposed centre would contravene the open space and recreational amenity zoning of the site, and would therefore be contrary to proper planning and sustainable development.
An Bord Pleanála explained that it had decided not to accept the inspector's recommendation to grant permission largely because of the scale of development at the Citywest Hotel complex, which now has 1,100 bedrooms. The board said it would be "inappropriate and impractical" to seek to control this by imposing a condition prohibiting the concurrent use of the proposed convention centre and the existing facility, which can accommodate 4,000.
Welcoming the board's ruling, An Taisce said it had been concerned that the Citywest scheme would have prejudiced the evaluation of tender offers for the construction of a National Conference Centre on a more suitable site in Dublin.
"We look forward to an outcome of this process and trust it will result in the development of a building which will combine suitability of location with high architectural quality and public transport access," a spokesman said.
