Fingal refusal of Dublin Airport pre-clearance expansion ‘totally unreasonable’

Dublin Airport operator DAA has described Fingal County Council’s decision to refuse planning permission for an expansion of the US Customs Pre-Clearance and Border Protection facility as “totally unreasonable and unjustified”.

In an appeal to An Bord Pleanála, planning consultants Coakley O’Neill say the council’s decision to block the expansion “was entirely unexpected and is totally unreasonable and unjustified”.

The DAA application was submitted in an effort to eliminate the “chronic congestion” faced by travellers to the US at the existing pre-clearance facility at Dublin Airport, the firm said. The application was lodged against the background of DAA projections that 1.7 million passengers will use the pre-clearance facility in 2023 – a 13 per cent increase on last year.

The local authority last month refused planning permission after finding that the proposal was premature pending the determination by the road authority of the detailed road network to serve the area.

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The consultants contend that the assessment by the council planning officer was “fundamentally flawed” in that it was premised on there being an intensification of use in terms of an increase in passenger capacity at the airport whereas the application explicitly stated that there would be no passenger increase.

“It is as if Fingal County Council blatantly ignored the applicant’s stated rationale for the proposed development,” Coakley O’Neill stated, adding that the reason for refusal “does not relate in any way to the nature and extent of the proposed development”.

In their appeal, they say it was “surprising to us” that the proposal would be turned down on what are essentially traffic grounds. “There is no basis for a refusal of permission on traffic grounds, given that there is no increase in operational traffic movements.”

Coakley O’Neill says the proposed expansion of the pre-clearance facility “will address a particular chronic congestion issue that is hampering the effective and efficient operation of a critical element of Dublin Airport’s offering for airlines and passengers”.

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The appeal comes just weeks after the DAA challenged a separate Fingal County Council order to reduce the number of night-time flights at the airport.

The council ruled it had breached a condition of its 2007 planning permission for a new north runway that the average number of flights between 11pm and 7am could not exceed 65 a night, with the original runway to be used for these night flights. The runway came into operation a year ago.

The DAA has secured a temporary High Court stay on the order pending a hearing of its legal challenge to the enforcement notice.