Plans for a national conference centre suffered a serious setback after An Bord Pleanala yesterday refused planning permission for the major part of a proposed £1.2 billion development in Dublin's docklands.
An Bord Pleanala granted planning permission for a 2,500-seat national conference centre which was the focal point of the massive Spencer Dock scheme - the largest proposed urban development in the history of the State.
But planning permission was refused for the rest of the high-rise development, which included two hotels, nine office blocks and 11 apartment blocks on the 51-acre site mainly owned by CIE, part of the developers' consortium led by Treasury Holdings.
In its nine-page decision, An Bord Pleanala said the proposed development's "scale, bulk, mass and campus-style layout" would be an inappropriate form of urban development for Dublin. It also said the scheme, which included a railway station, was premature pending the determination of the alignment of a cross-river rail link.
The decision comes as a major blow for the developers, Spencer Dock Development Consortium, which had offered to largely finance the construction and operation of the loss-making national conference centre provided it could glean revenue from the rest of the development.
However, residents and other opponents of the high-rise, high-density scheme hailed An Bord Pleanala's decision as a victory for docklands communities as well as planning and urban design.
As the developers resolved to return to the drawing board with the scheme, Government sources said the consortium would lose its State funding of £26 million if it attempted to submit a significantly revised application.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Tourism and Trade said last night that if, as the developers had indicated, they wished to submit a new planning application, Bord Failte, which approved the original plan, would have to examine it in the light of the public tendering process which had been gone through.
The contract signed by the consortium stated "significant construction" must be under way at the beginning of next year and the project would have to be completed by December 2002. Any attempts to alter the plans at this stage would almost certainly knock the project off its timeframe, according to the sources.
A further complication facing the developers involves new EU rules governing the granting of State aid. If the developers were to re-apply to the Government for funding it could only give a maximum of 18 per cent, compared to the approximate 30 per cent given in the original contract.
Earlier this year, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, described the proposed development as "a monstrosity". He later wrote to An Bord Pleanala asking it to ignore his remark, stating it had been made informally and solely as a Dail representative for the constituency in which the proposal was planned. He said it was not his intention to influence any deliberations of An Bord Pleanala.
Asked yesterday for Mr Ahern's reaction to An Bord Pleanala's decision, a spokesman said, as a local TD the Taoiseach obviously had an interest in the development, but he was not available for comment.
The consortium behind the proposal, consisting of Treasury Holdings, the docklands businessman, Mr Harry Crosbie, and CIE, said yesterday it had mobilised its design team to study the issues in the decision and begin preparing a revised planning application.
Its chairman, Mr Dermod Dwyer, said he was pleased An Bord Pleanala had endorsed the conference centre, which was designed by the internationally renowned Irish emigre architect, Mr Kevin Roche.
"There are obviously going to have to be trade-offs, perhaps between the amount of built land and open space, but for definite this consortium is going to develop Spencer Dock," he said.
It is understood the consortium will seek a meeting with the Department of Finance and is likely to seek financial incentives such as tax allowances for the development.