Lancefort Ltd v an Bord Pleanála, Ireland and Attorney General (No. 2)

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Court: High Court
• Judgment Date: 01 January 1997
• Date: 01 January 1997

(S.C.)

(H.C.)

Lancefort Ltd

and

An Bord Pleanála (No. 2)

- Locus standi - Application for leave - Whether threshold issues -Whether legal and factual merits of ground advanced relevant to locus standi - Whether substantial grounds sufficient to give applicant locus standi - Whether company without property or economic interest can have locus standi - Rules of the Superior Courts, 1986 (S.I. No. 15), O. 84, r. 20 (4) - Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1963 (No. 28), s. 82 -European Communities (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations, 1989 (S.I. No. 349) - Local Government (Planning and Development) Regulations, 1994 (S.I. No. 86), art. 56 (2) - Council Directive 85/337/EEC.

Section 82(3B) of the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1963, as inserted by s. 19(3) of the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1992, provides that :- "… An application for leave to apply for judicial review under the Order in respect of a decision … shall … be made within the period of two months commencing on the date on which the decision is given, and … be made by motion on notice … and such leave shall not be granted unless the High Court is satisfied that there are substantial grounds for contending that the decision is invalid or ought to be quashed." Order 84, r. 20(4) of the Rules of the Superior Courts, 1986, provides that :- "The court shall not grant leave unless it considers that the applicant has a sufficient interest in the matter to which the application relates." The European Communities (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations, 1989 which implement Council Directive 85/337/EEC require, inter alia, certain projects or developments which are above certain defined sizes ("thresholds") to be the subject of environmental impact assessments. Article 56(2) of the Local Government (Planning and Development) Regulations, 1994, provides that where an environmental impact assessment is not required by the European Communities (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations, 1989, the first respondent, shall, if it considers that a development would be likely to have significant effects on the environment, require the submission of an environmental impact assessment. After an oral hearing of an appeal from a grant of permission by Dublin Corporation, the first respondent granted permission to the notice party to carry out a development at a prominent site in the city of Dublin. The applicant, some of whose members had...