An Bord Pleanála grants permission for Roscommon wind turbine

An Bord Pleanála has granted planning permission for the construction of a large wind turbine at Kilcash despite strong local objections to the development.

The appeals board has upheld Roscommon County Council’s original decision in May last year to give Natural Forces Renewable Energy Ltd. approval for the turbine.

The turbine will be built on an 81 metre tower with an overall tip height of more than 149 metres and the project will have a 30-year lifespan.

The development site is located c.3.5km to the west of Knockcroghery village, 7km to the south of Roscommon town and 23km northwest of Athlone.

The council received almost 80 submissions in relation to the original planning application. All of them raised concerns about the impact of the wind turbine plans.

They included health concerns; negative noise and flicker effects; devaluation of property; impacts to flora and fauna during construction phase; threat to breeding bird species and potential jeopardy to the potential for tourism growth within the region.

Kilcash Wind Turbine Action Group and a local person appealed the original granting of planning permission to An Bord Pleanála. 

The action group included a professionally commissioned hydrology and ecology reports as part of its appeal.

However, An Bord Pleanála has upheld the original decision by the council, giving the green light for the construction of the turbine with revised conditions.

In its decision, the appeals board ruled that the proposed development would “not cause adverse impacts on the residential or visual amenities of the area or of property in the vicinity, would not significantly impact on biodiversity, European sites, or archaeological resource; and would be acceptable in terms of traffic safety and convenience”.

“The proposed development would, therefore, be in accordance with the proper planning and sustainable development of the area,” said the board.

The planning permission for the turbine comes with 21 conditions attached.

One of the stipulations is that the developer retains the services of a suitably qualified and experienced ecologist to undertake pre-construction surveys.

Among the other conditions are that the wind turbine does not exceed permitted noise levels, and that effective measures must be introduced to minimise interference with telecommunications signals in the area in the event of that occurring.