An Bord Pleanála has decided not to appeal a High Court decision which found it had granted planning permission for a major housing development in Co Offaly based on incorrect information.
The local businessman who took the case has criticised the board, saying he had to risk losing his own house in order to get the decision reversed.
He also criticised the planning authority for failing to identify a mistake which would have seen his house being overlooked by 13 large two storey homes.
During the court case it emerged that the planning authority had failed to spot serious defects in the plans for the 74-house development at Edenderry, which centred on the exact location of some of the houses.
The case, which took four years, was taken by businessman Mr Gerry Seery.
It emerged from plans that the new houses would be located 26 metres from his house, as opposed to 40 metres as stipulated in much of the documentation.
Mr Seery, in taking the application, also had to give an undertaking to the High Court to pay to the developers any costs associated with the delay in the development, should he have lost the case.
In October 1999 An Bord Pleanála granted permission for the 74-house development at Carrick Road in Edenderry by Carrickhall Developments, a Kildare-based firm owned by brothers Mr Nathy and Mr Jarlath McIntyre and Mr Charles Bailey.
The board overturned an original stipulation in the planning permission granted by Offaly County Council which stipulated that the houses closest to Mr Seery's property should be kept to single storey height. The decision had been made on the basis that the nearest houses would be located 40 metres away from Mr Seery's home.
However, Mr Seery noticed that the plans showed that the new homes would be 26 metres away from his house.