Permission refused for windfarm near Clare blanket bog

Clare County Council was yesterday lauded for preventing a possible repeat of the Galway peat landslide in Clare, after it refused planning permission for a windfarm in an upland blanket bog.

Planning was refused because of the impact the €20 million windfarm could have on 80 acres of upland active blanket bog 3 km from the west Clare village of Lissycasey.

The ESB subsidiary, Hibernian Windpower Ltd, which yesterday was working to halt the peat landslide near its windfarm at Derrybrien in south Galway, is also the developer of the proposed windfarm in Clare. Locals are blaming the Derrybrien landslide on construction work at Hibernian's windfarm.

Clare councillor Mr Tom Prenderville (FF) welcomed the council's decision. "Given the Derrybrien experience, I think it is correct that the council has adopted the precautionary principle in this case. Upland bog areas are not places for these large industrial installations," he said.

"There is a need for a national landscape policy to be drawn up, so that windfarms such as this one are not proposed for inappropriate locations."

In refusing permission, the council said the proposal would cause an unacceptable impact on an EU-protected intact blanket bog and would therefore be contrary to the Clare County Development Plan ( 1999) where it is policy "to conserve the existing range of flora and fauna in Clare through protection of wildlife habitats wherever possible".

The council made its ruling after its heritage officer, Ms Congella Maguire, said there would be a negative impact on 80 acres of active upland blanket bog listed as an EU annex one habitat in the area of the windfarm.

She said the use of "floating roads" in the construction phase of the plan "would cause irreversible damage to the intact bog".

The council's senior executive planner, Mr Gordon Daly, endorsed his colleague's decision and said that while there were costs and benefits associated with windfarms, in this case "the merits of the proposal are far outweighed by serious concerns in relation to the ecology and visual amenity of the area". The plan, which was proposed for a sparsely populated area, encountered no local opposition.

Earlier this week, the Irish Peatland Conservation Council warned that the peat landslide at Derrybrien could have been avoided if the planning authorities had taken on board the concerns which it and local residents expressed.

Its conservation officer, Ms Caroline Hurley, yesterday welcomed the county council's decision.

"We would be very supportive of that decision. There is a huge responsibility to protect the upland blanket bogs that remain."

However, a sister Hibernian Windpower development, which is located 4 km from the failed proposal, did secure planning after the council ruled that the 15-turbine plan "would not seriously injure the visual amenities, landscape character or the ecological value" of the site.

The decision by the council makes it the third windfarm to secure planning in Clare - Hibernian Windpower has already secured planning for a nine-turbine windfarm at its coal-burning station at Moneypoint.