The Council for the West has described An Bord Pleanála's decision to refuse planning permission for a Government department in south Mayo as "crass nonsense of the highest order".
The council's chairman, Seán Hannick, has called for a "fundamental change in the planning process" on foot of last month's decision by the appeals board to turn down permission for a new headquarters for the Department of Community, Gaeltacht and Rural Affairs at Ireland-West Airport, Knock.
Mr Hannick said that Knock airport's late founder, Mgr James Horan, would not have accepted such a decision, just as he had not accepted the "bureaucratic mouthings" when he was pushing ahead with his project.
The appeals board said that the headquarters would have been located in a "rural area which is remote from the town of Charlestown or any other settlement, remote from the normal range of services and facilities associated with office accommodation, and remote from public transport infrastructure".
It said that a stand-alone office building which did not relate to the airport's business would give rise to unsustainable forms of commuting and would be contrary to the current Mayo Development Plan. The building's proximity to the airport runway would also result in a poor working environment for staff.
The Council for the West and others had been "campaigning for years" to have a business and technology park developed at Ireland-West Airport, Knock, with "incentivised tax breaks", Mr Hannick said yesterday.
"We believe that such an environment could attract up to 3,000 badly-needed jobs within a short time. More than that, it would act as a magnet to draw enterprises and jobs to the region."
He said it was "fortunate that the kind of blinkered thinking shown by An Bord Pleanála" did not exist when the Shannon Free Airport industrial zone was being created. The people of the region should not accept the decision and should move to have it reversed by whatever means were at their disposal.
A spokesman for Bord Pleanála said that it had no comment to make on the matter.
Decentralisation of the Department of Community, Gaeltacht and Rural Affairs to Knock was due to have been completed by the middle of next year.
Planning permission for new offices was appealed to Bord Pleanála by Peter Sweetman and Associates.
The appeals board decision has been welcomed by An Taisce.
The Council for the West, established by western bishops, is a voluntary, independent, non-political body which reports on the socio-economic state of the region. It also acts as a lobby group to promote development and it campaigned successfully to retain EU Objective One status for the region.
Lorna Siggins
© 2007 The Irish Times
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