Cantillon: O’Flynn to take on county council

Michael O'Flynn's latest High Court case promises to be an interesting one. The developer, who successfully fought off global investment fund, Blackstone, in the same forum last year, is taking on Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council this time around.

His company, O’Flynn Capital Partners (OFCP) says that the council’s decision to refuse permission for 168 new homes in Cabinteely in south Dublin was driven by bias and rooted in a row over an access road to the proposed development.

The access road is part of a Strategic Development Zone (SDZ) for the area set out by the council in the first place.

The judicial review that OFCP is seeking is thought to be first case of its kind.

Planning decisions on SDZs cannot be appealed to An Bord Pleanála in the normal way. The legislation introducing them was framed this way to try to ensure that vital infrastructure did not get bogged down in the planning system, where lengthy appeals and challenges were common.

That is why OFCP went to the court in the first place.

There is an added twist to the case in that the development involves land that is within an SDZ and outside it.

The part within the SDZ is the crucial element, as this involves the road giving access to the overall development, and without which nothing can happen.

The company’s affidavit argues that in refusing it planning permission, the council was attempting to compel it to give access over its property to other developers who also own land in the area.

It also says that the council changed its position in relation to the road, known as the Druid's Glen Road.

As OFCP’s application was made ex parte – that is without the other side in court – we have yet to hear what the council has to say.

Presumably we will get the opportunity when the matter goes to full hearing.