Planners uphold refusal for turbine near Castlepollard
An Bord Pleanála has upheld the decision made by Westmeath County Council in February of last year to refuse permission for erection of a wind turbine and a 20 kV substation near Castlepollard.
The application for the substation and the 150m high 4.2 MW wind turbine at Loughanstown was made by Natural Forces Renewable Energy Limited, c/o Rowan Forensic and Environmental Engineering Consultants Limited of Unit 14 Scurlockstown Business Park, Trim.
An Bord Pleanála ruled that because the development would be accessed via a local road of restricted width and alignment, it was not satisfied that it would not seriously injure the amenities of property in the vicinity through traffic-related noise and general disturbance and serious traffic congestion.
The planners also had concerns that the development might result in pollution of surface waters within the vicinity of the site.
Following Westmeath County Council’s February 2022 decision to refuse permission for the development, the applicants appealed to An Bord Pleanála. An appeal objecting to the development was submitted by the North Westmeath Turbine Action Group CLG of Clonsura, Castletown Finea, Castlepollard, and listed as observers were the Waters family.
The council’s refusal of permission in February 2022 was on the grounds that by virtue of the turbine height, the turbine constituted an industrial scale/large scale energy production project which the Westmeath County Development Plan dictates should be directed to cutover cutaway peatlands.
The council also ruled that it was considered that the development had the potential to give rise to shadow flicker, and outlined concerns that future required connection to the national grid might require measures contrary to the County Development Plan.
The project promoters, in their appeal, argued that the single-turbine development was a community-led project, and that the site selection process had been "rigorous" in order to prove that the project was in an area suitable for wind energy and would not incur environmental, landscape, habitat and wildlife impacts. The North Westmeath Turbine Action Group, meanwhile, argued that the development should have been refused by Westmeath County Council for additional reasons, including that the application was not in accordance with articles 22-24 of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001.
The group also contended that the proposed development was not a community led project as defined in the plan, which deems such projects to be those comprising turbines less than 100 metres in height.
The Waters family’s observation contended that the application was contrary to Westmeath County Development Plan and that the turbine was too close to and too high for Castlepollard and surrounding houses.