An Taisce opposes fast-tracking 'Suas'

The proposed "Suas" cable car service for Dublin city and a €1 billion commercial and residential development for Ceannt Station in Galway city should not be permitted to use the new fast-track legislation to gain planning permission, An Taisce has said.

The projects are among 53 schemes seeking to apply for planning permission under the new Strategic Infrastructure Act, which came into force earlier this year and allows developers to bypass local authority planners and go directly to An Bord Pleanála for planning approval.

The planning board is currently determining which of the 53 schemes should be permitted to use the new system and which will have to go back to their local authorities.

An Taisce said the new system diminishes public participation in the planning process and that it will lead to the courts system becoming swamped with legal challenges to planning decisions.

Ian Lumley, national heritage officer with An Taisce, said the organisation would be particularly concerned if the cable car and Ceannt Station proposals were allowed to use the new planning system.

"There are several that really shouldn't qualify and I think it is unlikely that the cable car will qualify. It doesn't satisfy any of the criteria for major infrastructure. It's clearly a stand-alone project that should go through normal procedures."

The Ceannt Station development was essentially a commercial development as only one quarter of the site was to be used for transport and this "small element" meant that it did not qualify as a major transport development, Mr Lumley said.

No formal procedure had been established to allow organisations such as An Taisce to make a submission to the planning board on which developments should be allowed to use the fast-track system, Mr Lumley said.

An Taisce has made a complaint to the European Commission that the fast-track process is in contravention of the EU environmental impact assessment (EIA) directive. This directive states that when a project is subject to an EIA, the review (appeals) process must be accessible and affordable.

"The Government has said that the legislation gives people recourse to the courts to appeal, but the courts are financially onerous," Mr Lumley said.

Sinn Féin's environment spokesman Arthur Morgan said the legislation was designed to facilitate the "ramming through of unwanted infrastructure against the democratic wishes of communities".

He also criticised the practice of allowing developers to meet An Bord Pleanála before they submit an application.

An Bord Pleanála said that pre-application meetings must be held as part of the process.