The High Court dismissed a judicial review challenge by Swords Cloghran Properties Limited over Fingal County Council’s refusal to consider a revised planning application, finding that the council’s decision was wrong on one point but that it was still a decision made within the statutory period.
The dispute concerned two proposed developments. An application lodged on 22 December 2004 sought permission for a hotel, restaurant and conference facilities, a 2,038-space park-and-ride facility, and sports facilities. The council refused it on 24 February 2005, and the company appealed that refusal to An Bord Pleanála on 22 March.
The company had lodged a revised application with the council the previous day, seeking a hotel and redesigned sports facilities but omitting the park-and-ride scheme. The council returned the application and supporting documents, first on 19 April and again on 16 May, saying it could not consider the proposal while the appeal was pending.
The judge found the revised proposal was not the “same development” as the first one. The sports and parking facilities differed significantly, and the park-and-ride element had been abandoned. However, the council’s decision had been based on its view that the proposals were the same development, rather than development of the same description.
The court rejected the company’s separate argument that the appeal could not prevent the council from considering the revised application because it was lodged one day after that application. The judge interpreted the relevant provision as applying where an appeal was lodged before the planning authority had considered the application and reached its decision. The provision was intended to prevent the council and the appeal board from considering the same development at the same time.
The judge also ruled that the council’s notifications that it could not consider the application counted as decisions for the statutory eight-week period, whether or not the council’s reasoning was correct. As a result, the company was not entitled to claim that planning permission had been granted by default. The court dismissed the judicial review application.