A private hospital in south Dublin has brought a High Court challenge to the approval of one of the BusConnects corridors and the related compulsory purchase of some of its lands.
In what is thought to be the second challenge to a BusConnects route, Blackrock Clinic and a related firm allege the decision to acquire parts of its site to facilitate the Belfield/Blackrock to City Centre core bus corridor will have a “serious” negative effect on its operations and patients.
They want orders quashing An Bord Pleanála’s recent decisions to approve the 8.3km route and the compulsory purchase order (CPO) affecting its site. These March 2024 decisions, insofar as they relate to the clinic’s lands, were disproportionate, irrational and based on legal errors, they say.
The National Transport Authority (NTA) has sought permission for 12 dedicated bus lanes as part of the capital’s flagship bus project. The Belfield/Blackrock spine was the fourth and latest of these to be approved by An Bord Pleanála.
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An Artane resident is seeking to challenge a north-side corridor, running from Clongriffin to the city centre. Aine Kelly’s application requesting the court’s permission to pursue her claims is being contested on Tuesday by the NTA.
In an affidavit, Blackrock Clinic chief executive James O’Donoghue said applicants Blackrock Clinic Unlimited Company and Kingwater Development Company Limited understand the need for the scheme and support the project “in principle”.
The landowners, both based at the Blackrock Clinic site, also recognise that the proposed widening of the Rock Road to facilitate public transport and cycling infrastructure will “unavoidably” require the compulsory purchase of at least some land at the front of the clinic’s campus.
However, they “strongly” believe the land acquisition under the CPO – a permanent taking of 570 sq m and an interim taking of a further 677 sq m during construction – is “significantly more extensive that what is actually required” for the corridor.
Temporarily taking land extending up to the wall of the hospital’s administration building risks making the property unusable during the works, he said. The loss of 64 car park spaces during construction and permanent loss of 17 spaces will also have an impact, as these are “critical for enabling seriously ill patients to access the hospital”, he said.
More fundamentally, he added, the CPO will constrain the hospital’s ability to develop “much needed” new medical facilities.
The applicants’ senior counsel, Eoin McCullough, on Monday told the court the CPO provides for taking chunks either side of the hospital’s entranceway to facilitate “induction loops”, which are planted underground to notify traffic light junction boxes of approaching cars.
There have been induction loops on the Blackrock Clinic site for more than three decades and there has never been any difficulty with transport or maintenance staff gaining access to these, added Mr McCullough, instructed by Hayes Solicitors.
He said his clients have always facilitated access and has indicated it is willing to continue to do so for this scheme, so taking the land under a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) is unnecessary and disproportionate.
The barrister said there has been “no engagement at all” from the board with his clients’ reasons for objecting to the proposal and for their claims related to its own planned development of the site.
While only the applicants could be represented in court, Ms Justice Emily Farrell was satisfied it was appropriate to allow them to proceed with their case against An Bord Pleanála.
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