Irishplanningnews.ie

The High Court has quashed planning permissions for a 33 turbine wind farm development in Roscommon following a judicial review brought by local residents.

The main issue was compliance with the Habitats Directive. The Judge ruled that the appropriate assessment carried out by the Board was not lawfully conducted and did not meet the requirements of the Habitats Directive. A determination has still to be made regarding costs and whether the planning application should be sent to An Bord Pleanala for reconsideration. The Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht had expressed concern about the developments on environmental grounds.

The Board’s inspector had recommended a refusal on the basis of the proximity to the Lough Croan Turlough Special Area of Conservation and Lough Croan Turlough SPA and recommended the Board refuse permission on the basis of the hydrological impacts on karst limestone and underlying groundwater system in an area of known flooding and concerns about migratory water bird species that use the area as part of their wintering range.

The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin TD recently published the Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014, the purpose of which, is to establish a web based register of lobbying activity and provide transparency on who is contacting whom about what.

The listed lobbying activities include anyone who makes any relevant communications about the development or zoning of land under the Planning and Development Acts 2000 to 2014 including those paid by a client to lobby on the clients behalf. Therefore planning consultants (as well as other professions who engage in such submissions) will likely have to register on the lobbying register as its stands.

Once registered, the lobbyist will have to make a return of their lobbying activities 3 times a year.