Builders’ planning application rejected

AN application by two builders aimed at requiring Clare County Council to grant them default permission to develop two houses on a site in Lahinch has been rejected.

In the High Court yesterday, Mr Justice John Hedigan said the courts should never lose sight of the fact the integrity of the planning process is a “vital national interest”.

Bad planning decisions “sentence generations to live with the consequences” and, in interpreting the legislation, the courts should never lose sight of the overarching national interest in the integrity of the planning process, he said in the course of his judgment.