An Bord Pleanála has refused planning permission for a mixed housing and commercial development on the coastline in the Galway village of Bearna.
The appeals board has ruled that such a large-scale project should not be approved in the absence of a statutory development plan for Bearna.
The board's inspector was also unhappy with the design and layout of the project, which he described in his report as "poor", "inadequate" and "substandard".
The decision has been welcomed by community group Pobal Bhearna, which says it has no problem with development once it is "sustainable".
The application for a complex of 12 terraced houses, eight apartments, a restaurant, gallery, shop, cafe, car parking and beachfront promenade was made by Tom and JP Cunningham and granted planning approval by Galway County Council in January 2005, subject to 22 conditions.
Three appeals were lodged, by Pobal Bhearna, the Concerned Lacklea and Seapoint Residents, and Anne Davey. An observation was submitted by Údarás na Gaeltachta, the Gaeltacht development authority.
Pobal Bhearna argued that the development was premature when no integrated development plan had been sanctioned for the former fishing village in the Galway Gaeltacht, and that it was contrary to coastal protection provisions. It said Bearna had already been approved for 281 per cent of its six-year housing allocation under the county development plan, and eight large-scale planning applications for the village since January 2003 had resulted in a "dramatic breach in the spatial planning allocation".
A new "aparthotel" is being built in the village on the site of the former Twelve Pins hotel, which was a landmark at crossroads now marked by traffic lights. An extension is being built to the local shopping centre on the coastline, while a proposal for a shopping centre, 152 apartments and townhouses and a five-storey hotel was withdrawn last year after 100 objections were lodged.
Údarás na Gaeltachta said the local authority, which awards special status to the Irish language in its county plan, failed to give proper recognition to the language implications for the Bearna development. While the status of Irish in the Bearna area was in a "very fragile state", it could be strengthened through a series of practical steps and support networks, the authority said.
"There is no doubt that housing estates have a very negative linguistic effect on communities in which Irish is already under pressure," it said.
The appeals board said that in the absence of a development plan, the proposed development would be "premature" and contrary to proper planning and sustainable development.
