HOMEOWNERS in some of the country’s most expensive neighbourhoods are contributing to a surge in planning appeals by attempting to build lucrative developments in their back gardens.

IN the David v Goliath struggle to protect the 5,000-year-old Tara landscape from a section of the M3 tolled motorway, it would seem that Goliath has won, at least for now.

RESIDENTS living beside Adamstown — Dublin’s newest town — want guarantees that the area won’t become the State’s biggest traffic jam.

IT may be 10 years before Limerick has its own waste incinerator, a Bord Pleanála hearing into a proposed 98-acre super dump was told yesterday.

RESIDENTS lodged an appeal with An Bord Pleanála yesterday against plans for another apartment block in a Cork suburb.

ANGRY residents at the site of the country’s first commercial toxic waste incinerator vowed last night to take their battle to the High Court.

FILM-MAKER Neil Jordan is for a second time objecting to a waterfront holiday village almost next door to his West Cork home.

TRAFFIC congestion in and around Waterford city will not be eased for another three years at least as An Bord Pleanála considers various design aspects of the long-awaited bypass.

THE Environmental Protection Agency last night granted a local authority a licence to operate what is likely to be the biggest super dump in the country.

MEMBERS of Kerry County Council are considering suing the chief executive of An Taisce after he accused them of putting the interests of an individual landowner before the public interest.

THE country’s first toxic waste incinerator has moved a step closer to reality after planners said they had no objection to the €80m development.

WILL an out-of town developer move far enough south to take on the redevelopment of the Dunkathel estate - and to outbid the handful of locals keen to get their hands on a site for a c300 house scheme plus luxury hotel?

MOVES are being stepped up to lift a controversial ban on the erection of mobile phone masts within a kilometre of residential buildings in Kerry.

UNLESS planning restrictions on masts are eased, people in parts of Kerry will not get mobile phone coverage, a leading phone company warned yesterday.

SENIOR design staff involved in the development of the long-awaited Waterford to Kilcullen dual carriageway say they hope to begin the first phase of the 64km route by this time next year.

THREE-storey terraced and semi-detached houses in a courtyard site in Kinsale have just been released on the market this week and should create a bit of a stir in the gourmet town.

THE owners of one of the most important period houses in Cork are to cut their losses after a bitter planning saga.

A BORD Pleanála inspector has criticised a local authority for seeking too much money from a developer to upgrade road networks in Glanmire, Co Cork.

RESTRICTIONS on one-off housing in rural areas are set to become the biggest issue in next year’s local elections unless the Government follows through on its plans to reform planning legislation, the Irish Rural Dwellers Association (IRDA) has warned.

MOST of the objectors to the proposed N8 Fermoy to Mitchelstown bypass withdrew their objections yesterday.