Kildare County Council seeks financial support to fight court case with two huge builders

Kildare County Council is to seek financial support from a state body to defend an action in the High Court.

Ireland’s two largest homebuilders, Cairn Homes plc and Glenveagh Properties plc are seeking a judicial review in the High Court relating to the new Kildare County Development Plan 2023-2029. 

The developers argue that the CDP will reduce the number of homes which can be built in the county to just 9,144. 

They contend that The current plan, now coming to an end, allowed for 22,272 homes to be built in the last six years and this represents a reduction of 59% on the number of new homes that can be permitted under the new plan at a time of an unprecedented housing crisis.

The move follows a similar development in October of last year when, Glenveagh and Cairn submitted an application for a Judicial Review of the Wicklow County Development Plan 2022–2028, on broadly similar grounds. 

The developers argue that the  reduction in the number of new homes that could be delivered across all types including social, affordable and private arises in part from a reliance on out-of-date Census data from 2016 and follows the adoption of the National Planning Framework (NPF) in 2019. 

As a consequence, Glenveagh and Cairn claim the plan has materially underestimated Kildare’s population growth and its current and future housing needs. 

Cllr Naoise Ó Cearúil told a Kildare County Council meeting that the Office of the Planning Regulator would bas asked to fund at least part of the costs because it concerns an issue “outside our control.”

He said a considerable amount of work had gone into the plan and the costs should be split or paid entirely by the OPR> 

KCC official Amy Granville said that there were five judicial reviews over the County Meath plan.

She said KCC would talk to the OPR about the costs but she was not in a position to say what the bill might come to.

Ms Granville indicated that a similar action has been taken against Wicklow County Council and this is likely to be heard two to three months before Kildare’s case.

She said the case concerns the methodology used to define housing supply targets.