The High Court has quashed An Bord Pleanála’s refusal of planning permission for a dwelling at an organic farm in Co Wicklow, finding that the Board had not adequately explained its decision. The application must return to the Board for fresh consideration; the court did not decide that planning permission should be granted.
Mr Justice Max Barrett ruled on 27 July 2021 that the Board’s decision failed to explain why Alun Owens did not meet the social or economic need criteria in Wicklow County Council’s Development Plan, despite evidence and submissions addressing those criteria. The court said it could not understand the Board’s reasoning on several key issues, even when the refusal was considered alongside the inspector’s report and the site’s planning history.
The application concerned a proposed dwelling and wastewater treatment system at Easthill Organic Farm, on land Mr Owens owned near Newtownmountkennedy. An Bord Pleanála had refused permission on 23 September 2019 after an appeal from a council refusal. Its stated reasons included that Mr Owens had not demonstrated a need to live in the rural area and that the proposal would reduce a small farming plot and set an undesirable precedent.
In its judicial review, the court identified gaps in the reasoning about whether Mr Owens met the Development Plan’s rural housing criteria, the viability and size of his intensive organic farming operation, and the need for him to live close to the farm. The Board’s reasoning also did not engage properly with additional evidence in the later application, including a Teagasc report. That report said the farm could provide a livelihood and that living on the holding was essential to protect crops, tunnels and equipment.
The judge stressed that judicial review was not a reconsideration of the planning merits. The ruling did not find that Mr Owens was entitled to permission, or require the Board to reach a particular result. It found that the reasons given did not allow an affected person or reviewing court to understand why the application had been refused, contrary to the Board’s statutory duty to state the main reasons and considerations for its decision.
The court granted an order quashing the 2019 decision, declared it in breach of that duty and remitted the application to An Bord Pleanála for fresh consideration. It indicated that Mr Owens should receive his costs, subject to either side seeking a costs hearing.