An Bord Pleanála to quash hotel refusal due to 'legal deficiency in its reasoning'

The planning authority will now reconsider the application for the 142-bedroom development by the Neville hotel group's CoAnt Entertainment. File picture: Gareth Chaney

An Bord Pleanála has bowed to a challenge taken over its refusal for a landmark hotel in Wexford, saying it accepts there was a “legal deficiency” in its decision-making and that it will agree to quash the ruling.

It follows a High Court challenge by developers Colm and Anthony Neville, who based their case for a judicial review around an allegation that the board had mistakenly copied and pasted an earlier planning decision when overruling its own inspector to reject permission for the project.

The planning authority will now reconsider the application for the 142-bedroom development by the Neville hotel group's CoAnt Entertainment.

It had twice rejected plans for the multimillion-euro development at Commercial Quay in Wexford town, despite planning having been granted by Wexford County Council on each occasion. 

Last October the board ruled that the ambitious project would have been “highly obtrusive, visually incongruous with the existing streetscape", and would "detract from the architectural heritage" of the area.

In a statement to the Irish Examiner, the appeals board said it will cede to the challenge when it returns to the High Court next month.

"In respect of the above-proposed development, please note that An Bord Pleanála has formally advised the participants in this case that it is consenting to the quashing of its decision order... when the matter next comes before the High Court," said a spokesman.

"In that respect, An Bord Pleanála had received and considered legal advice and accepted that there was a legal deficiency in its reasoning given for that decision. There is no further comment beyond this."

When deciding not to accept its planning inspector’s recommendation to grant permission, the board said it did not agree that the proposed development would not "seriously injure the visual amenities" of the area.

It was a similar decision to when the board first rejected the development in 2019, after it had been granted permission by council planners, which sources said led to the hotel group's decision to pursue a judicial review over a belief that the decision had been copied from the initial ruling.

The Nevilles, who own a number of hotels in the south-east and east, had submitted a revised plan to meet the appeals board's findings but that was rejected once again last year.

The past number of months have seen controversy surround numerous decisions by the planning authority, with deputy chair of the board, Paul Hyde, resigning in early July.

A report into alleged conflicts of interest at An Bord Pleanála was referred to the DPP by Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien last month.

CoAnt Entertainment's judicial review case over the Wexford development is next listed in the High Court for October 10. It has been adjourned on several occasions since the case was taken, with the most recent coming on July 5.