BusConnects core bus corridors — how a corridor gets approved, what neighbours can do, and what the register shows along the Lucan route

Within 2 km of the Lucan to City Centre core bus corridor at Palmerstown, the register holds 209 planning applications lodged in the 24 months to 12 September 2026, 93 commencement notices and 19 appeals. None of them is the corridor. A core bus corridor never appears on the council's planning register, because the National Transport Authority takes it straight to An Coimisiún Pleanála (formerly An Bord Pleanála) under the Roads Act, and that is the first thing a neighbour needs to know.

How a corridor gets its consent

BusConnects Dublin is twelve corridors — Clongriffin, Swords, Ballymun/Finglas, Blanchardstown, Lucan, Liffey Valley, Clondalkin/Drimnagh, Tallaght/Clondalkin, Kimmage, Templeogue/Rathfarnham, Bray, and Belfield/Blackrock — with about 230 km of bus lane and cycle track between them. Each is a road development under section 51 of the Roads Act 1993, which means the NTA applies to the Commission for approval of the scheme with an environmental impact assessment report, and separately for confirmation of the compulsory purchase orders that take the front gardens and verges the lanes need.

The Commission publishes the application, takes written submissions for a set period — usually six to eight weeks, at a fee of €50 — and holds an oral hearing at which objectors to the CPO and submitters on the scheme are heard by an inspector. The inspector reports; the Commission decides. The first corridors were lodged in 2023, and by May 2025 all twelve had been approved, several with modifications from the inspector's report. Some of those approvals are before the High Court on judicial review, and busconnects.ie carries the status of each.

What a neighbour can do, and when

Three windows matter, and two have closed for every corridor. The submission window on the application is when the substance is argued: the loss of a tree line, the width of a footpath, a junction design. The CPO objection is separate and formal: an owner whose land is in the schedule objects in writing to the Commission, and the oral hearing must deal with the objection. Both are over once the Commission decides.

The window still open on some corridors is the eight weeks for judicial review under section 50 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, which applies to the Commission's Roads Act decisions as it does to planning ones. Judicial review tests the lawfulness of the decision, not its merits; a court will not redesign a junction. The 2024 Act's standing rules, once commenced, tie the right to bring a review more tightly to having made a submission, so a neighbour who said nothing during the application has a narrow path.

After the decision the remaining conversation is about compensation. The Acquisition of Land (Assessment of Compensation) Act 1919 governs it; the NTA makes an offer for the land and for injurious affection to what remains, and the Property Arbitrator decides where the two sides cannot agree. Our reading: get a valuer who has done CPO work, not one who does house sales, and ask for the NTA's accommodation works schedule before you sign anything.

The council's own pieces

Not everything under the BusConnects name goes to the Commission. Bus layovers, stop upgrades and the local road changes that feed a corridor are done by the councils, some under Part 8 of the 2001 Regulations, some under section 38 of the Road Traffic Act 1994. Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown ran a consultation on the BusConnects Dundrum Bus Layover Scheme that closed on 4 December 2025, and Fingal's N3 M50 to Clonee Bus Priority and Active Travel Scheme consultation closed on 18 May 2026. These are the pieces where a submission still changes the drawing, and they are on our consultation feed, not the register.

What the store shows along two corridors

The corridor itself is not on the register, but everything beside it is. Take two points: the Lucan corridor at Palmerstown, and the Ballymun/Finglas corridor at Ballymun where it meets the MetroLink alignment.

Along the Lucan corridor the large permissions predate the bus lane: 250 build-to-rent apartments at Palmerstown Retail Park, Kennelsfort Road Lower, granted by the Board as a strategic housing development on 1 September 2020 (SHD3ABP-307092-20), and 127 apartments at Cherry Orchard Industrial Estate granted as a large-scale residential development in July 2023 and upheld on appeal (LRD23A/0003). Both sit on the corridor's frontage, and both files are worth reading for how the bus lane was treated in the traffic assessment. Along the Ballymun corridor the commencement notices cluster on the Parkview lands (DCC 5252/22, 30 units, upheld on appeal ABP-317818-23), where the bus corridor and the MetroLink station box overlap.

Frequently asked questions

Can I object to a BusConnects corridor?

The submission and CPO objection windows are set by An Coimisiún Pleanála when the NTA lodges each corridor, and all twelve corridors have now been decided. What remains is judicial review within eight weeks of a decision, and the council-run consultations on layovers and feeder works.

Is BusConnects a planning application?

No. Each corridor is a road development approved under section 51 of the Roads Act 1993 by An Coimisiún Pleanála, with a compulsory purchase order confirmed alongside it. It does not appear on the council's planning register.

What compensation do I get if BusConnects takes my front garden?

Compensation for the land taken and for the effect on the remaining property, under the Acquisition of Land (Assessment of Compensation) Act 1919. The NTA offers; the Property Arbitrator decides if you do not agree. Accommodation works — a new wall, a rebuilt driveway — are usually in the scheme's schedule.

Which BusConnects corridors are in judicial review?

Several of the 2024 and 2025 approvals are before the High Court. The list changes; busconnects.ie and the Commission's case pages carry the current position for each corridor.

The MetroLink guide covers the railway order route the other big schemes take; the active travel guide covers the council-run Part 8 and section 38 consultations. See the applications along the Lucan corridor in the Explorer at Palmerstown, or open the South Dublin County Council place page.

Figures from the register on 12 September 2026 (live callouts refresh hourly); scheme status checked against busconnects.ie on 12 September 2026. Check with the council or a planning consultant before relying on this.