Irishplanningnews.ie

An Bord Pleanala has upheld the decision of Cork County Council to grant permission for 14 wind turbines and associated development in the Ballyhoura Mountain Range (at the western foothills of the Galtee Mountains straddling the border of Co Cork and Co Limerick). Each wind turbine will have an overall maximum dimension of 126 metres, comprising a tower 80 -86 metres high with a diameter of about 4 metres at the base, to which three blades of 41 – 45 metres length will be attached.

Cork County Council granted permission but only for 20 years from the grant of permission. The Council also attached conditions requiring connection to the National Electricity Grid to the satisfaction of the Planning Authority; the proposal to use the existing infrastructure which is in place on the site; commissioning of the wind farm to be subject to an approved connection to the national electricity transmission grid and shall be subject to the prior grant of permission of the planning authority. There were two third party appeals and one first party appeal. Read the rest of this entry »

New Cork County Development Plan – 4th March

Draft Westmeath County Development Plan – 12th April

Wexford Town and Environs Plan – 19th April

Following a complaint regarding flooding, Monaghan County Council referred a question to An Bord Pleanala as to whether the construction of a bridge / culvert (on agricultural lands) is or is not exempted development.

According to the An Bord Pleanla Inspector the original access in this location was a relatively simple agricultural style access with a concrete slab bridging the stream supported by concrete reinforcements on both sides of the stream. The original bridge structure did not have any concrete bottom to the stream bed. A new bridge incorporating a concrete culvert of the stream was constructed including metal side railings.

The Planning Authority and the landowner were both of the opinion that the development undertaken on the site comes within the scope of Class 3 of Part 3 of the Second Schedule of the Planning and Development Regulations, 2001 (as amended). Class 3 states that the following shall be exempted development for the purposes of the act: Read the rest of this entry »

An Bord Pleanala have overturned the decision by Galway County Council to grant permission for a large-scale shopping complex outside Tuam, Co. Galway. 

The applicant initially sought permission for a mixed use development (9,040 square metres gross) comprising anchor retail unit (4,300 square metres gross); 3 no. retail warehouse type units including DIY centre; drive-thru restaurant and ancillary development.  The scale was later reduced during the planning process.

The Board agreed with their senior inspector’s recommendation that Having regard to the scale and location of the proposed development outside the town centre area, and to the strategy indicated in the current Tuam Local Area Plan to concentrate and consolidate commercial activity in the town centre, the proposed development, would seriously injure the vitality and viability of the town centre of Tuam. 

The Board did not support the view that the proposed development would undermine the LAP indicative objective of providing a neighbourhood centre of appropriate scale west of the N17 National primary Road, and adversely affect the strategic function of the said road.

Kildare County Council has given notice that it proposes to prepare Local Area Plans for Kilcullen, Monasterevin, Sallins, Kilcock and Clane. Pre-draft submissions and observations from interested parties in relation to these towns are now invited.   An Issues Paper has been prepared which identifies the key planning issues that the five local area plans could address.

Submissions should be made in writing to Mary Foley, Administrative Officer, Forward Planning, Kildare County Council, at the address below or emailed to lapsubmissions@kildarecoco.ie by 5pm on Wednesday 6 March 2013.

The Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, in conjunction with the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, intends to undertake a technical update of the guidance on noise (including separation distance) and shadow flicker in the Wind Energy Development Guidelines 2006.

It is understood that a Private Members Bill is currently proposing increasing the setback from houses from 500 metres to as much as 2 kilometres to protect residential amenity.  This increased setback would restrict wind farm development to only a small portion of the country suitable wind farm development.

Comments are invited by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government on these aspects of the Guidelines before February 15th, 2013.