The High Court has quashed An Bord Pleanála’s decision that a railway signalling mast and related works at Ballymote station were not exempted development. The court ruled that the project had been lawfully started and sufficiently advanced before Irish Rail was told that the station had been proposed for protected status, making it unjust to prevent completion.
The judgment does not overturn the Board’s interpretation of the Planning and Development Act 2000. Mr Justice Clarke held that section 57 generally removes exemptions for works affecting the character of a protected or proposed protected structure, including exemptions available to railway works. But he found that, on the particular facts, the development retained its exempted status because it was a single, integrated project begun and substantially progressed before Irish Rail learned of the change.
Irish Rail began work in early July 2004 on a radio mast and associated facilities about 82 metres from Ballymote Railway Station. The project included a fenced compound, control house, generator room, equipment cabin and a mast about 29 metres high. By 30 July, Sligo County Council had decided to propose adding the station to the protected structures list. Irish Rail was notified by letter dated 30 August.
When the Council’s decision was made, the mast base, equipment-room foundations and generator-room blockwork had been completed. Further work, including fitting a roof and door and erecting fence posts, was carried out before the notification letter arrived. The remaining work included finishing the fence and erecting the mast. The judgment says Irish Rail later completed the works.
The Council disputed the project’s planning status, issued an enforcement notice requiring removal of what it called an unauthorised telemast, and referred the question to the Board. In January 2006, the Board found that the mast would generally fall within the railway exemption, but that it was in the station’s curtilage and materially affected its character. It concluded that section 57 therefore removed the exemption.
Justice Clarke rejected Irish Rail’s argument that section 57 applied only to exemptions under a separate statutory provision. Applying the Interpretation Act 2005, he concluded that such a narrow reading would undermine the Act’s intended protection of protected structures. However, he said the legislation did not clearly address projects begun lawfully before their exempted status changed. Whether completion may continue depends on the circumstances, including whether the project is integrated and how far it had progressed.
The court quashed the Board’s decision on that limited basis: the project was a single integrated development and had reached a significant stage before Irish Rail knew, or was notified, that the station’s status had changed. The court did not find a basis to intervene in the Board’s planning assessment of whether the works affected the station’s character if section 57 applied.