An Bord Pleanála has sent back plans by Fingal County Council for a major new housing area at Hansfield, near Blanchardstown, because it regards them as defective.
The board has given the council until December 22nd to amend its draft planning scheme for the Hansfield Strategic Development Zone (SDZ), with a view to making a final decision on it by January 30th.
It said the scheme had failed to outline a clear phasing programme for the "timely delivery" of rail transport, bus transport, roads, schools, community facilities and major open space in conjunction with the provision of housing.
The board said the scheme's failure to provide for a rail station on a new spur between Clonsilla and Dunboyne, on the old Navan railway line, would not deliver "an appropriate density and layout of residential development". It wants the scheme to provide for the undergrounding of a 110Kv power line that traverses the site, "causing major disamenity to future development", as this would allow for greater density and a more appropriate layout.
The appeals board also said that the scheme had failed to deal with the development of St Joseph's Hospital and its lands, or to identify the location of major public open space as well as pedestrian and cycle access routes to it.
Welcoming the board's ruling, Ms Joan Burton (Labour, Dublin West) said it had raised serious issues that needed to be addressed by Fingal County Council if the Hansfield SDZ was to result in the creation of a viable community.