Council to take action over aerodrome

Developer Mr Jim Mansfield is heading for another planning controversy after being issued with enforcement notices in relation to unauthorised development at Weston Aerodrome, near Lucan, Co Dublin.

South Dublin County Council has said it will take court proceedings against the millionaire developer unless he ceases all unauthorised works forthwith and complies with the terms of a planning permission granted by An Bord Pleanála in 2003.

However, Mr Mansfield yesterday denied to The Irish Times that he had infringed the planning permission and claimed he was the victim of a "vendetta" by some local politicians.

The council has already taken court proceedings in relation to earlier unauthorised developments at Weston, which Mr Mansfield plans to turn into an "executive airport". The High Court is due to deliver its judgment in this case within weeks.

Planning officials issued three enforcement notices last month.Among the changes ordered are the removal of the second and third floors of an office and clubhouse structure and slight reductions in the height of the control tower and a parapet wall.

The developer has also been told to meet a number of pre-development conditions, by upgrading an access road and finalising plans for accident and emergency services and aircraft fuelling facilities, before any further development is carried out.

Mr Mansfield said the buildings complained of housed navigational aids and were therefore exempted developments. He denied breaching pre-development conditions, saying these only had to be fulfilled before the new aerodrome was operational.

Local independent councillor Mr Derek Keating, who wants the council to seek an injunction against Mr Mansfield, said yesterday local residents were "fed up" with the developer's "litany of non-compliance".

The council is also investigating whether there has been an increase in aircraft activity since Mr Mansfield bought Weston for €12.7 million in 2002; this was specifically prohibited in the planning permission.

Local residents have expressed fears that Weston could be opened up to commercial flights. Mr Mansfield said he had "no interest" in commercial flights, but planned to use Weston for parking "executive aircraft".

An aviation consultant has drawn up a detailed technical report for the council, which has requested additional information from flight logs.

Last year, the council ordered Mr Mansfield to stop work on a €50 million new convention centre at Citywest until the official deadline for objections had passed.

His company, HSS Ltd, was fined €1,750 and ordered to pay costs of almost €30,000 to the council after Tallaght District Court found it had failed to comply with an enforcement order.

After An Taisce appealed the convention centre plans, An Bord Pleanála overturned the original planning permission. The 600-seat convention centre remains half-built, although councillors voted last November to allow its completion and Mr Mansfield has submitted a new planning application.

In Co Kildare, he constructed an 18-hole golf course on his country estate at Palmerstown House without first receiving planning permission. Kildare County Council gave him retention permission for the development.

An Bord Pleanála confirmed this decision but rejected the rest of the project put forward by one of Mr Mansfield's companies, which envisaged a business park, hotel and conference centre on the 600-acre demesne.