Dublin Airport planning decision leaves stakeholders scratching their heads

An Bord Pleanála’s draft decision on the issue of night flights at Dublin Airport’s north runway left more than a few people – including key stakeholders – scratching their heads.
Anyone looking for some clarity in the days since has been sorely disappointed. In a standoffish statement on Wednesday a spokesman said the planning regulator “will not be interpreting the details” of its draft decision. Why? Because it has put the draft decision back out for public consultation and observations until late December.
But the decision was always destined to be confusing. For one the 29-page file published on the planning board’s website is a PDF of a scanned document, meaning it can’t be searched for keywords or important details. The accompanying inspector’s report, meanwhile, runs to a whopping 432 pages.
But technical complaints like these are but a trifle compared to the content of the decision, which does seem to contradict itself at several turns. Crucially, the planning board seems to agree with airport operator DAA that the cap should be replaced with a more easily enforced quota system. However, it also effectively orders DAA to significantly reduce the number of night-time flights.
In the absence of clarity local residents have been quick to claim victory. In a statement on Tuesday one group representing people living in the path of flights around the airport said the draft decision is “a significant step” towards addressing the concerns of locals about the “harmful impact of night flights”.
That may be so and they could well be vindicated when a final decision is made. But the net effect of An Bord Pleanála’s actions this week is that a final decision has been kicked firmly down the road into the new year at the very least.
DAA for its part said on Wednesday that the draft plan, if implemented, would be a retrograde step, forcing it to significantly curtail night-time operations beyond even what the original 2007 planning permission envisaged.
Flag-planting of this variety aside, this is beginning to feel like the start of another prolonged planning-related farrago for the airport operator.