Irishplanningnews.ie

In a recent court judgment at the end of 2014, O’Griana v An Bord Pleanala, Cork Co Council and Framore Limited, Justice Peart ruled that planning permission should not be granted for an windfarm project requiring a grid connection unless the grid connection details are provided in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process.

The case related to a 6 turbine wind farm in at Réidh na nDoirí, Ballingeary, Co. Cork and is one of many wind farm permissions which are currently being challenged in the courts.

To date planning authorities have accepted developers’ claims that details from ESB Networks are often not available at the time of planning and this element can be dealt with via a separate application subsequent to the application for the wind farm itself.

Essentially Justice Peart quashed the decision of An Board Pleanala to grant permission on the basis of ‘project splitting’, which is a recognised term for dividing up the true extent of a development. The grid connection for the proposed wind farm was considered to be an integral part of the project and the wind farm could not be dealt with as a stand-alone project in respect of EIA.

This decision could yet be appealed.

Recently, there have been a number of judicial reviews sought to quash decisions by An Bord Pleanala to grant permission for wind farms, including cases where the Board’s inspector recommended a refusal of permission.

Roscommon
The High Court quashed an An Bord Pleanala decision to grant permission for a large wind farm development in Roscommon following a judicial review taken by local residents. The High Court ruled that An Bord Pleanala’s appropriate assessment did not meet the requirements of the Habitats Directive.

Clare
The High Court recently granted leave for residents in west Clare to seek a judicial review of the An Bord Pleanala decision to grant permission for four 85-metre high wind turbines in the Milltown Malbay area of Co Clare. Leave has been granted on multiple grounds including failure to carry out a proper Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Appropriate Assessment (AA).

Cork
A couple in Cork have been granted leave from the High Court to seek a judicial review to quash An Bord Pleanála’s decision to grant permission to Cleanrath Windfarm Ltd to construct 11 turbines up to a height of 126m.

Laois
Laois wind awareness group, People Over Wind, have been granted leave to appeal an An Bord Pleanála ruling in the High Court, over the approval of an 18 turbine windfarm proposed on Coillte owned land in Cullenagh.

These judicial reviews, although very expensive to take, should hopefully provide a degree of clarity concerning some of the primary issues concerning windfarm development as many would argue that the national planning guidelines are quite vague and open to a wide range of interpretation.

Eamon (Ted) Kelly, chairman of the Wind Turbine Action Group South Roscommon is seeking a Judicial Review of an An Bord Pleanala decision to grant planning permission for two wind farm developments in County Roscommon. The Judicial Review is being sought on the basis that An Bord Pleanála failed to specify why it approved permission for the wind farm close to special areas of protection and conservation in Co Roscommon, when two of its own inspectors recommended permission be refused.

Leave for a Judicial Review has to be granted by the High Court in the first instance and this was obtained by the action group in November 2013. A Judicial Review of a decision by a planning authority focuses on the procedures involved in arriving at the determination rather than the decision itself. As such it is generally accepted that there is a very high bar to win any such review. However, Judicial Reviews are also very expensive and therefore they tend only to be taken when there are very strong grounds for argument.

A 10 year Permission was sought for the construction of a wind farm consisting of five wind turbines (hub height not exceeding 80m, blade diameter not exceeding 82.4m), an electrical substation building, an anemometer mast, construction and upgrade of internal access tracks, and associated works all at Rockmarshall, Co. Louth.
Louth County Council refused permission due to due to impact on landscape (Area of Aoutstanding Natural Beauty) and shadow flicker impact on residents.
Over 1,200 local residents had signed a petition against the development.