Patrick Crean’s Marlet Group has lodged an appeal with An Bord Pleanála against Dublin City Council’s decision to refuse planning permission for 580 apartments on a site near St Anne’s Park in Raheny in north Dublin.
Last month city council concerns over the light-bellied Brent goose put paid to the contentious residential plan for the 16.5 acre site on lands to the east of St Paul’s College at Sybil Hill.
The appeal is the latest twist in the long-running planning saga for the site since it was purchased by Mr Crean in 2015. In the High Court in May last year Mr Justice Richard Humphreys noted that development plans for the site had clocked up four decisions by An Bord Pleanála and 10 sets of legal proceedings “and counting”.
Members of Dublin City Council last month voted to effectively “dezone” the lands which would effectively stop its use for housing. That move is expected to be challenged by the Marlet Group in the High Court.
The local authority last month told Marlet that its Natura Impact Statement “has not demonstrated that the evidence provided supports the assertion that no impact arises to the Dublin Bay populations of protected Brent geese” from the proposed development. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage previously told the council Dublin Bay was the most important site for the light-bellied Brent goose in Ireland.
The city council had received more than 230 objections against the proposal.
The High Court last year overturned planning permission for 657 dwellings on the site.
