Fingal County Council has asked daa to submit extensive further information to support its application for planning permission to expand Dublin airport and increase the passenger cap.
In total, the council has sought additional detail in relation to 85 separate points around the airport operator’s infrastructure plan.
The airport operator has six months within which to respond to the requests.
Daa is seeking to have the current passenger cap of 32 million passengers a year lifted to 40 million to enable the airport to continue growing.
The move is supported by a range of airlines and business groups, who claim the cap is hampering the further growth of the airport and by extension the economy.
A total of 31.9m passengers passed through the two terminals in Dublin last year, and daa has warned that without an increase in the cap, the number of flights planned for this year and next may have to be reduced.
However, the move is facing significant opposition from some local residents and from environmental groups, who say the airport is big enough and further growth will only add to carbon emissions, noise pollution and congestion in the area.
Among the additional pieces of information sought by Fingal County Council are a list of all the baselines, surveys and current operations that are presented in the application and the raw data, which must be “robust and up to date”.
“The Planning Authority has concerns as to the various baselines and surveys of historical and current operations/current state as they are presented in the application and used as basis for trends and forecast scenarios,” the council says.
On aircraft emissions, the council has asked for a carbon reduction strategy “dealing specifically with reduction of total projected carbon arising from the aviation related expansion” to demonstrate compliance with the Local Area Plan.
An analysis explaining the variation over time of previously modelled aircraft noise contours for Dublin Airport, is also being sought, as well as further details around noise control management.
“Having regard to the inclusion of cargo flights in modelling forecast assumptions, and the absence of any proposal for development/intensification in this regard the applicant is invited to clarify the intent and to revisit the proposal as necessary in this regard,” the request also states.
Significant further information is also sought around future passenger number scenarios, aircraft fleet mixtures and stand and gate capacity.
“For example, the IA [Impact Assessment] includes a proposed expansion of the US Preclearance Facility, but there is no analysis that sets out how the forecast volumes of US-bound traffic are set to increase in the future, and therefore the need for the expansion and the scale of the proposed facility has not been justified,” the council states.
Daa has also been asked to provide extensive further data around its transport proposals and the potential effects of expansion on traffic.
“The Planning Authority and the statutory transportation authorities have concerns regarding the adequacy of the transport proposals to support the proposed development, in particular the intensification of the transport demand generated by the proposed 25% increase in passengers,” the council says.
A full and detailed parking audit of the airport campus has also been sought while further information around EV charging and mobility management issues has also been sought.
Among the 11 infrastructure projects that planning permission is being sought for are the expansion of the north and south aprons to make space for additional aircraft and the expansion of the check-in and passenger services area within Terminal 1, including the relocation of the existing security area.
