Council rejects plan even though National Transport Authority said it had no issue with the proposal
The DAA – the semi-state company that operates Dublin and Cork airports – had planned to extend an existing long-term holiday carpark to provide 950 spaces for staff vehicles. The more than four-hectare site for the facility is located on the perimeter of the airport, near one of its runways.
The DAA had said that the new car-parking facility would help it to consolidate staff car parking at Dublin Airport by relocating lost staff car-parking spaces on the campus to a more remote location at Harristown.
The National Transport Authority (NTA) had told Fingal County Council that it had no issue with the development of the planned new car-parking facility.
“The NTA would not be opposed in principle to the provision of airport staff car parking in areas which are located outside of the more central parts of the Dublin Airport campus, where land can be more efficiently used for other purposes,” it said in a letter to the Council.
“The NTA would however, place a critical emphasis on the need for staff car parking to be managed in a manner which is consistent with clearly defined demand patterns and agreed mode share targets,” it added.
The DAA, whose CEO is Kenny Jacobs, noted that there are currently 4,324 car-park spaces for staff within Dublin Airport lands. However, the Council pointed out that this does not include 700 spaces for which the DAA has submitted a separate planning application, while a planning application for a new multi-storey car park at the airport is also under consideration.
“The application documents submitted do not consider the possibility of these car parks being developed in chorus, which could result in a significant overprovision of car parking within Dublin Airport lands,” noted Fingal County Council in rejecting the DAA application.
“Developing a new site each time to meet the target parking is not a sustainable approach and cannot be endorsed by the planning authority,” it added.
Fingal County Council pointed out that since 2006 the “policy shift” has been in support of more sustainable modes of travel “and thereby would envisage a further reduction in car parking for the more efficient use of land”.
Dublin Airport still lacks a rail link and while the Government’s Metro plans include a stop at the airport, it’s certain to take more than a decade before it’s operational, if it is delivered.
“The planning authority does not endorse the need for DAA to develop a new surface car park on a greenfield site to cover the car parking spaces lost or displaced through its developments on previously permitted sites,” added the Council.
That included spaces lost with the development of Terminal 2 at Dublin Airport.
Fingal County Council insisted that the DAA has provided no information regarding the current use of existing staff car-parking spaces, or the number of staff employed and their work mobility patterns.
It said that the planning application couldn’t be considered in isolation and had to be considered in the context of other major infrastructure proposals at Dublin Airport.
