The Select Vestry of Glenageary, Co Dublin, has accepted "with good grace" An Bord Pleanala's decision to refuse planning permission for a community centre adjoining its 19th century parish church.
The Very Rev Gordon Linney, Archdeacon of Dublin and Rector of Glenageary for the past 21 years, said the vestry would now be seeking "to find a model that secures the future of this parish and meets the reasonable demands of the planning authorities".
In its ruling, An Bord Pleanala noted that St Paul's Church, located in a conservation area at the junction of Adelaide Road and Silchester Road, is scheduled as a List 1 protected structure in the Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Development Plan.
The board said the erection of a mainly two-storey community centre alongside, including the removal of a porch, "would detract from the architectural character of the church and its setting and would, therefore, seriously injure the visual amenities of the area".
It also considered that the proposed building, by reason of its height and proximity, would "seriously injure the visual and residential amenities" of nearby Silchester House, the home of Ms Jane Dillon-Byrne, who is a Labour member of the county council.
The third reason cited by the board was that the development required the removal of a mature turkey oak tree, which "would seriously injure the visual amenities of the area and could impact negatively on the stability of adjacent trees".
The board was ruling on an appeal by the select vestry against a decision by Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council last December to refuse permission for the proposed community centre.
The new building, designed by architects Scott Tallon Walker, would have been contemporary in style. Its accommodation included a number of meeting rooms for parish activities, including tea after Sunday services, as well as a badminton court and other facilities.
Dr Diarmuid O Grada, planning consultant for 10 local residents who opposed the scheme, said the board's ruling recognised the architectural significance of St Paul's Church as the premier landmark of Glenageary and sought to preserve its free-standing character.
This "essential feature" would have been compromised by the "inconsistent appendage" proposed, he said, adding: "We may now be reaping the benefits of recent planning legislation that widened the definition of protected structures to include their settings."
But Archdeacon Linney queried "the viability of large 19th century buildings that are used for only a couple of hours per week" and said St Paul's would have no future unless there was a prospect of integrating its spiritual role with day-to-day parish life.
Though he accepted the board's decision "with good grace", the archdeacon said he would be "concerned about a policy based purely on visual amenity" that took no account of practical issues, such as the distance between St Paul's and its parish hall on Adelaide Road.
Nevertheless, he said the select vestry "would certainly endeavour to meet any reasonable concerns they have in revisiting the issue". But he warned that if planners merely viewed church buildings in architectural terms, they ran the risk of "killing off the life of a parish".
Archdeacon Linney said the site chosen for the proposed community centre was "the least visible" in terms of its impact. "Of course it would have meant a change in the perspective of the building, but any church tends to change over time and St Paul's is no different."
