A heritage adviser and member of An Taisce has taken a legal challenge to a decision of Dublin City Council to grant permission for a student housing and retail development at Henrietta Street in the city centre.
Mr Justice Quirke yesterday granted leave to Mr Ian Lumley, who lives in a protected Georgian house on the street, to take judicial review proceedings aimed at quashing the permission granted on January 21st for the development by Lamb Partnership at Bolton Street and Henrietta Street.
Mr Ronan Murphy, for the developer, said that if the reliefs sought by Mr Lumley were granted, his clients could face additional costs of about €315,000. Mr Lumley claims that the proposed development is adjacent to a protected structure and the necessary yellow notice was not advertised on site.
It is claimed that the site adjoins a group of protected Georgian structures forming numbers 3 to 15 Henrietta Street and the Kings Inns complex, which forms an architectural ensemble. It is also claimed the proposed development is excessive in scale .
Mr Garrett Simons, for Mr Lumley, said there was a requirement under the planning development regulations 2001 that a second application for planning permission in respect of the lands concerned be advertised on a site notice with a yellow background.
Counsel said the site notice must be yellow and this requirement was what the case turned on. Mr Lumley was aware of this in August 2003 but, despite monitoring the site on a daily basis, it was not until September 26th last that he saw the yellow site notice.
Because of the delay in posting the yellow notice, Mr Lumley missed the opportunity to make representations concerning the development.
In an affidavit, Mr Lumley said the plans were for a mixed development and involved demolition of buildings and construction of 42 apartments, three retail shop units, roof gardens, student communal facilities and ground-floor courtyards with basement storage and car and cycle parking at two basement levels.