Dublin County Council v Matra

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 01 January 1980
• Date: 01 January 1980
• Court: High Court

(H.C.)

Dublin County Council

and

Matra

Application by planning authority for injunction to restrain unauthorised user - Whether injunction should be granted - Local Government (Planning and Development) Act (No. 28), s. 31 -Local Government Planning and Development Act, 1976 (No. 20), s. 27. Whether five year limit in s. 31 of 1963 Act still applicable.

The first-named respondent was the freehold owner of 6 acres, 1 rood and 7 perches of land, situate at Brownsbarn, Clondalkin, County Dublin, the title to which had been registered in its name on 21st December, 1972. The second-named respondent, a transport and haulage Company, held a leasehold intererst in one portion of the lands in question since October, 1977. The third-named respondent was a director of the first-named respondent company. Four applications for planning permission in respect of the lands had been submitted to the County Council since 1972 seeking permission, inter alia, to use the lands as an open-air storage facility, a vehiclepark and for light industrial purposes. The applications for planning permissions were rejected by the County Council and by the Planning Appeal Board on appeal on the ground, inter alia, that it was an objective of the Planning Authority, as expressed in the County Development Plan, to reserve the area for the further development of agriculture. One portion of the lands, area A, was used for the purpose of pasturing horses. Since the month of September, 1972, another portion of the lands, area B, from which the top-soil had been removed and replaced with a hardcore base, was used for the storage of disused machinery and miscellaneous debris. Since October, 1977, another portion of the lands, area C, which was held under a lease by the second-named respondent, was used for the purpose of storing containers, lorries and trailers employed by the...