Spencer Dock contests Carroll exemption

THE HIGH Court is set to scrutinise a Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) decision to grant a planning exemption to one of property player Liam Carroll’s companies for a major office scheme.

The DDDA granted the exemption last year to North Quay Investments Ltd (NQIL) for a development of three office blocks on the Liffey’s north quays, which will provide new homes for Anglo Irish Bank’s headquarters, AIB Capital Markets and O’Donnell Sweeney solicitors.

However, the High Court yesterday granted the Treasury Holdings-backed Spencer Dock Development Company leave to seek to have the DDDA’s decision judicially reviewed.

In a series of affidavits, Spencer Dock and Treasury Holdings managing director John Bruder told the High Court that the authority was acting outside its own powers in granting the exemption.

The DDDA can grant exemptions from the planning process, known as section 25 certificates, where a proposed development fits in with its own master plan.

Spencer Dock argues that North Quay Investment’s proposals are in breach of the existing plan because they do not have the required balance between commercial and residential development.

The docklands authority is currently reviewing its master plan for the area, a process that is supposed to involve consultation with interested parties.

However, Spencer Dock claims that in granting the certificate to North Quay, the DDDA committed itself in advance “to a particular course of action in relation to at least one area” of the docklands which benefited NQIL.

Spencer Dock told the court that in return for getting the exemption, NQIL has agreed to give the authority some land at the rear of its development.

The DDDA wants to build a canal on this as part of a plan to create an “island” feature in the docklands. This would form part of the new master plan.

Spencer Dock says this would damage its own interests in the area. The company’s affidavit states that it believes that the “agreement is fundamentally at variance with the manner in which the system is supposed to work”.

Spencer Dock also points out that the DDDA objected to the NQIL proposal when it originally sought planning permission for the office scheme from Dublin City Council.

Spencer Dock says the objection, prepared by the same DDDA planner who completed the report for the exemption, expressed concern at the proposed eight-storey height of one of the buildings, and the fact that the development was solely commercial. The DDDA subsequently granted a planning exemption to a proposal that was largely the same.

The issue is due back in court next month. If Spencer Dock succeeds in getting permission to have the decision reviewed, it is likely that it will ask that the Commercial Court deals with the issue.