The High Court refused to let a container storage operation at Compass Distribution Park in Santry continue for another 12 months, finding that the proposed stay would leave a large, unauthorised development outside planning control. The court said it would make orders declaring the use unauthorised and directing it to cease, and proposed a six-week period to remove the containers. The precise terms of the final order remained to be settled.
Tesco Ireland Ltd, which owns the lands, brought proceedings under section 160 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 against its tenant, Stateline Transport Ltd. The judgment said Stateline had occupied the site from January 2020 and stored an estimated 1,500 to 2,000 shipping containers there, stacked in towers of five or more. Fingal County Council issued a warning letter in December 2020 and an enforcement notice in August 2021.
The parties told the court on 5 October 2023 that they had compromised the case. Stateline consented to a declaration that the use was unauthorised and an injunction requiring it to cease. Tesco agreed to a stay of up to 12 months, but the decision was for the court. Stateline sought time to complete the purchase of another site and obtain planning permission for container storage there.
The court rejected that request. It noted that the council had refused retention permission in January 2023, citing the site’s zoning, effects on visual and residential amenity, missing environmental and drainage information, and inadequate transport information that could lead to a traffic hazard. An appeal to An Bord Pleanála was pending, but the court said the requested stay was intended to allow relocation, not to await the appeal or regularise planning status at the existing site.
The judgment described the breach as deliberate and large-scale, continuing despite the enforcement notice and the court proceedings. It also found the evidence of wider economic harm unconvincing. An economist’s report estimated additional costs of €29 million to €40 million over 12 months, but the court identified unexplained assumptions and omissions, including proposed additional storage capacity from Dublin Port Company.
The court said the planning authority had raised valid concerns about traffic, residential amenity, health and safety, and the lack of enforceable controls at the site. It refused the stay, concluding that the public interest in enforcing the planning system outweighed the asserted interest in continued operation.
The court proposed allowing six weeks to remove all containers and said it would hear further submissions on the final order, including traffic and safety measures. It also left open whether the order should warn that disobedience could expose Stateline’s directors to attachment proceedings and their property to sequestration. The matter was listed for further hearing on 16 November 2023.