An Bord Pleanála has refused planning permission for a proposed inner relief route in Athy, Co Kildare, the first time that the board has rejected any road scheme that came before it.
The 1km route, first proposed in 1975, would run to the south of Duke and Leinster streets from a new roundabout west of the railway bridge on the Dublin road to another new roundabout on the Kilkenny road.
It would have included a new bridge over the Grand Canal and another over the River Barrow. Objectors argued that the route would run right past the rear of Athy's courthouse - a protected structure - skirting the main square before rising to cross the river. In its decision to refuse permission, An Bord Pleanála said it considered that the proposed route "would fail both as a street and as a relief road because it would continue to bring traffic, including heavy commercial vehicles, through the town centre".
The board noted, in particular, that the current Athy Development Plan included a proposed southern bypass, which would provide a new crossing of the River Barrow some 500 metres to the south of the inner relief route, but without any need to bridge the Grand Canal.
It said this bypass "offers opportunities for providing linkages between the growing eastern, southern and western suburbs of the town, while leaving the townscape of its historic core intact", whereas the inner relief route would have "significant adverse effects".
Spelling these out, the board said the proposed road would materially and adversely affect the character of the town centre of Athy and would detract from its townscape qualities by reason of visual intrusion, noise and general disturbance from traffic.
In reaching this conclusion, the board said it had regard to the composition of protected structures and other buildings of importance in the medieval core of Athy, to existing historic street patterns in the area and to their relationship to the River Barrow.
It considered that the introduction of vehicular traffic, including heavy commercial vehicles, into this "sensitive urban environment" and interference with the pattern of urban spaces would be "contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area".
The board also ruled that the environmental impact statement (EIS) "is deficient in not adequately addressing the alternatives to this inner relief route in the context of present land use patterns, traffic movements, road developments and environmental constraints".
Though Dom Hegarty, the inspector who conducted the public inquiry last March, recommended approval, the board said "the totality of the injurious effects on the town of Athy would be unacceptable in the context of proper planning and sustainable development".
An Taisce welcomed An Bord Pleanála's decision, saying it was a vindication of its role as a prescribed body under the Planning Acts.
"Kildare County Council weren't even going to do an EIS until we referred the matter to the board, which directed that it be done," it added.
Mr Ian Lumley, the trust's heritage officer, said the case raised questions about the competence of inspectors holding road hearings in relation to how the EU directive on environmental impact assessment is applied, particularly the requirement to consider alternatives.
"More often than not, these inspectors are retired engineers from local authorities or the Department of the Environment, whose thinking on roads seems not to have changed from what was happening in Dublin in the 1980s, when whole streets were being pulled down."
One of the most vocal opponents of the inner relief route was local solicitor Frank Taffe. He made it clear at the hearing last March that there was no need "to destroy the character of our town" when the alternative of an outer ring road was available.
