An Bord Pleanala has for the second time refused planning permission for a controversial housing development on the outskirts of Delgany village in Co Wicklow.
In its decision announced yesterday, the board found that the development of 263 houses was "premature" because of the inadequacy of the roads in the area.
The decision, similar to that given on a previous application by the same developer in 1996, has been welcomed by residents and public representatives, who described it a "a landmark". They claimed it would effectively halt all major schemes in the Greystones/Delgany area until the infrastructure was upgraded.
The Delgany Residents' Action Group (DRAG), which appealed both planning permissions, has spent three years and £50,000 in opposing the development.
The first application from Developer Avmark Ltd, for 294 houses on the road, the R762 between Delgany and Killincarrig villages, was granted by Wicklow County Council in 1995, but overturned on appeal by An Bord Pleanala in 1996. In its 1996 decision, the board ruled that no further development should take place on the R762 until the infrastructure was upgraded, notably by the provision of a by-pass to the south of Delgany village.
However, Wicklow County Council then granted permission to the same developer for 263 houses on a slightly smaller site on the same lands in 1997. The move angered locals, who again appealed the permission. Welcoming the board's decision yesterday, Mr Patrick Pender, co-chairman of DRAG, said the group's position was now vindicated. However, he said that the case had important implications for the planning procedure "especially in the light of the Minister's [the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey] recent apparent support for a 2,000-house rezoning scheme in the Greystones/Delgany area."
The Minister has recently written to Wicklow County Council expressing his concern that a plan to rezone land in the Greystones/ Delgany area, to allow for the creation of 2,000 new houses, was dropped from the Draft County Development Plan. The Minister expressed the opinion that the area was adequately served by mains drainage and was within commuting distance of Dublin where there is a housing shortage.
However, Mr Pender said yesterday's Bord Pleanala decision "clearly showed that there is more to infrastructure than sewerage and the arrival of DART".
Mr Pender's view was supported by the local Fine Gael councillor, Mr George Jones, who sponsored the motion at Wicklow County Council which dropped the plan for 2,000 houses. The Fianna Fail TD for Wicklow, Mr Dick Roche, said the decision "vindicates the stance that the Greystones/Delgany area can't handle the doubling of population envisaged in the 2,000-house plan". The Wicklow county secretary, Mr Bryan Doyle, said the council had granted the permission in the light of precedent that the houses and roads could be provided on a phased basis.