This article is from page 49 of the 2008-11-11 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 49 JPG
AN Bord Pleanala has given the go- ahead for a wind-farm that will meet almost half the energy needs of an east Clare company.
Located near the village of O’Callaghan’s Mills, Olympus Diag- nostica secured planning permission earlier this year for the 200 high ft turbine which will be the third wind- farm erected in the county.
The company will use the entire output from the wind-turbine and have stated that their decision was prompted by spiraling energy costs which make financial planning more eluenceueim
The decision was appealed by Mr and Mrs JP Murphy of Rosslara, O’Callaghan’s Mills who claimed that the proposal would be at vari- ance with the Clare County Develop- ment Plan and the East Clare Plan.
They did not accept that the devel- opment would not impact negatively on the local bat population and in the
absence of substantive evidence that there would not be negative impact, the precautionary principle should apply and permission should be re- fused.
In relation to the bat population, the Murphys stated that the proposal to fit ultrasonic scarers to discourage bats at risk was not proven as a suc- cessful mitigation intervention and there were question marks over the viability and availability of the pro- OOo MOU UC RED Roe
In his assessment, the Bord Pleana- la inspector stated: “In this case an established industrial user seeks to provide sufficient power from a re- newable energy source to cater for its base load electrical needs. I consider this to be an inherently desirable ob- jective, and something to be encour- aged if there is not direct conflict with soundly based policy objectives for vulnerable landscapes.”
On the visual impact, he con- cluded that “the erection of a single wind turbine as proposed would not
detract from the landscape. If per- mitted and developed it should ap- pear as no more of less than a crisply presented utility structure in the rural landscape and would not seri- ously injure the visual amenities of the area.”
The inspector noted that the devel- opers would not proceed with the ul- trasconic scarers for bats.
The appeals board gave the propos- al the go-ahead, stating that having regard to the nature and scale of the proposed development and the pro- visions of the development plan for the area, the proposed development would not seriously injure the ameni- ties of the area or of property in the vicinity and would not adversely af- fect the natural heritage of the area.