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U2 fight to stay on in original recording studio
Posted on Thursday, January 24 @ 01:53:50 CET by Macphisto
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(Irish Examiner) -- By Niall Murray
U2 fans around the globe are signing an internet petition to save the band's old quayside recording studios in Dublin from demolition.
The Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) served a compulsory purchase order on the band last summer, because they want to knock the Hanover Quay building and open up public space on the south banks of the Liffey.
However, the band and their manager Paul McGuinness have lodged an objection against the order with An Bord Pleanála. Similar objections have been submitted by businessman Harry Crosbie and another individual, whose riverside properties were also the subject of purchase orders.
Both sides will make their case before a planning inspector at an oral hearing beginning next Tuesday, which will form the basis of a report to An Bord Pleanála.
Avid U2 fan Fintan Kennedy started the online petition and has so far gathered around 1,800 messages of support from around the world. Many likened the demolition proposal to knocking the Cavern club in Liverpool, where The Beatles first came to notice.
However, planning authorities cannot take their pleas into consideration when objections to the plans are raised next week.
A spokesperson for An Bord Pleanála said yesterday only objectors and the DDDA could be heard.
"These petitions can't be taken into consideration because only the authority serving the compulsory order and the objectors can address the oral hearing," she said.
The planning inspector will report back to the board, who can confirm or reject the orders in respect of some or all three properties. Their decision is due before April 8, but it is possible the time frame could be extended.
Whatever happens at that stage, the decision of An Bord Pleanála can also be challenged by judicial review in the High Court.
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