An Bord Pleanála refuses permission for hotel to keep 'park-and-fly' car park open

An Bord Pleanála refused the car park on the grounds that it was for hotel-related parking only and not for airport parking. File picture

The owners of a hotel have been refused planning permission to keep operating its “park-and-fly" car park close to Dublin Airport.

Carra Shore Hotel Dublin Ltd have been turned down by Fingal County Council and now An Bord Pleanála for retention of its 248 car parking spaces at the Holiday Inn in Clonshaugh. It follows the recent opening of a new car park near the airport, amid commentary around parking spaces in the vicinity in the years following the covid-19 pandemic.

Last year, airport operator Daa said that car parking at the airport was sold out for a number of days over the peak summer period while the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) blocked its purchase of a car park near Dublin Airport citing concerns over it having a “near monopoly”.

In the Holiday Inn planning bid, it was seeking retention for five years for its car parking spaces for Dublin Airport users.

Fingal County Council turned down the application last year because it would contravene the local development plan while noting that car parking at the airport had to be managed to ensure that “sustainable transport modes are promoted above the requirements of the private car”.

An Bord Pleanála ruling

In its appeal to An Bord Pleanála, the applicants said that the car park was already being used specifically for airport parking and not by hotel guests.

“Given the significant demand for airport parking and the passenger numbers, coupled with delays in delivering important planned public transport improvements (Metrolink and Swords to City Centre Bus Connects), there is a short-term need for additional airport car parking in suitable locations such as the subject site,” they argued.

However, an An Bord Pleanála inspector agreed with the council that the intended use for the car park would go against the zoning objective of the site under Fingal’s development plan.

“The car parking associated with the development relates to lands which were to be preserved as car parking for hotel-related parking only,” the inspector said.

“Permitting the subject development, as proposed, would set an undesirable precedent in terms of non-compliance with planning conditions of previous planning permissions and would therefore be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.” 

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The planning decision comes as an extra 6,000 car parking spaces opened near Dublin Airport earlier this week. The former QuickPark site closed in 2020 but has returned under the Park2Travel brand. It will operate a 24-hour shuttle bus service, and be managed by Apcoa.

Its managing director for Ireland Neil Cunningham said: “We look forward to welcoming customers and giving them a convenient, secure and sustainable airport parking experience.”