The High Court has refused to extend the time for a judicial review challenge to planning permission for a 21-turbine wind farm at Castlebanny, County Kilkenny, after the application was filed one day after the statutory deadline.
In a judgment delivered on 25 October 2023, Mr Justice Humphreys ruled that the eight-week deadline did not roll forward when its final day fell on a Sunday. The deadline fell on Sunday, 20 November 2022, and the applicants filed their grounding affidavit and statement of grounds on Monday, 21 November.
The challenge was brought by Save the South Leinster Way and its chairperson, Tara Heavey, against An Bord Pleanála and other respondents. Springfield Renewables Limited was the notice party. The board had granted the company permission in September 2022 to build 21 turbines, with blade-tip heights of up to 185 metres, and associated works.
The applicants argued that a general rule for deadlines falling on days when court offices are closed should apply. The judge held that the planning legislation’s text and context did not support an implied extra day. He pointed to provisions that expressly extend certain deadlines when offices are closed, but said there was no equivalent provision for applicants bringing statutory judicial reviews. He also held that Order 122 of the Rules of the Superior Courts did not apply because the deadline was set by statute.
The judge then considered the applicants’ request for an extension under section 50(8) of the Planning and Development Act 2000. That provision required them to establish both a good and sufficient reason for missing the deadline and that the circumstances were outside their control. He found neither requirement was met. The evidence did not explain why the applicants could not have acted sooner; their stated belief that they had until Monday was an error about the law. The judge also noted that they had waited until November to instruct solicitors after receiving notification of the board’s decision in September.
The court allowed the applicants to amend their grounds to include the extension request, without requiring a formal amended pleading, but refused the extension itself. It set aside the earlier leave order and dismissed the leave application as out of time. The applicants may re-enter the proceedings within 28 days of an appellate court decision that an extension is unnecessary or should be granted. The court also refused their request to file a further substantive affidavit. Unless the parties apply otherwise by written submissions within seven days, the order was to be perfected with no order as to costs.