A proposed £1.2 billion development in Dublin's dockland, incorporating the National Conference and Exhibition Centre, will be criticised for its height and scale at a planning appeal hearing later this month.
An Bord Pleanala's oral hearing on the scheme - the largest urban development proposed in the history of the State - opened for preliminary submissions yesterday. The full hearing will begin on February 21st, and is expected to last between two and three weeks.
Dublin Corporation last August decided to grant planning permission for the conference centre and one office block, but only outline permission for the remainder of the 51-acre scheme. The board's inspector, Mr Des Johnson, outlined the details of the commercial and residential scheme, which includes 26 buildings of heights varying up to 95 metres.
Mr Johnson, who is assisted by two other inspectors, said the developments they visited in preparation for the oral hearing included Canary Wharf and the Barbican in London and Potsdamer Platz in Berlin.
As well as An Taisce, the Irish Georgian Society and others, the developer itself, Spencer Dock Development Company, is appealing against the Dublin Corporation decision.
Among the aspects of the scheme the other appellants will question are its height, scale and density, the loss of residential amenities, its impact on important views and vistas, legal issues and the lack of community consultation.
The question of protection against legal actions at oral hearings was raised by one appellant, Fine Gael councillor Mr Gerard Breen. He said Mr Paul Clinton from the Carlton Conference Group was the subject of a £20 million defamation claim by a company called Keelgrove arising from another, earlier, oral hearing. Mr Johnson told Mr Breen oral hearings were held in public, and he should seek his own advice on the matter.
Mr Clinton will be one of 14 observers attending the oral hearing.