Plans for major solar farm in Cork turned down over archaeological concerns

Irish Examiner

3 days ago

Plans for a huge solar farm spread across six separate landbanks in the scenic Lee Valley in Cork have been shot down.
Cork County Council refused planning for the Aglish Solar Farm Limited project citing archaeological concerns.
The 100MW solar farm would have generated enough electricity to power almost 49,000 homes.
But planners said the applicant had not demonstrated that enough archaeological investigations had been undertaken to preserve in-situ potential archaeological features and to safeguard archaeological heritage.
The proposed development would contravene two specific objectives of the County Development Plan linked to archaeological features, it said, and would seriously injure the amenities of property in the vicinity, and would set an undesirable precedent if granted permission.
'The proposed development is therefore contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area,' they said.
The company lodged its planning application with the council late last year, seeking a 10-year permission for a solar farm, on six separate parcels of land totalling some 161 hectares, spread across several rural townlands south of Coachford, the River Lee and the Inniscarra Reservoir, and south east of Carrigadrohid.
It was proposed to have an operational lifespan of up to 40 years.
It attracted more than 200 submissions from third parties, including dozens of local residents, two residents' groups — the Farran Community Association and the Lee Valley Action Group — and from a 14-year-old boy living in the area, who wrote: 'We learn about alternative energy sources in school, but covering prime grassland is not a solution.'
Most submissions cited concerns about the scale of the project, the lack of local consultation, and the visual impact in what is designated as a 'high value landscape' in the Cork County Development Plan.
The Lee Valley Action Group acknowledged the need for renewable energy generation but said the project would 'fundamentally alter the character of this rural area and undermine the carrying out of agricultural and other rural-based enterprise'.
'In the absence of any national policy guidance on the development of solar farms, the location of choice for solar developments across the country is overwhelmingly focused almost exclusively on valuable greenfield farmland,' they said.
'This has led to solar energy promoters racing to identify ad hoc sites within the open countryside, which are then assessed in a general policy vacuum on an individual basis.
'Such an approach is not supported either in other EU states or the UK, where the use of commercial, brownfield and poor land is advised, and the use of good agricultural land is only allowed in exceptional circumstances."
The council sought further information on several issues, including archaeology, and the applicant's planning consultants said they would complete archaeological geophysical surveys and testing if planning was granted.
They said an 'appropriately worded planning condition' would alleviate any archaeological concerns on the site, while facilitating 'a positive and timely decision'.
They said the "priority status" afforded to solar farm projects, in terms of fast permitting, overrides public interest when dealing with competing environmental interests, and they pointed to a 'pronounced shortage' of geophysical survey resourcing and capacity in Ireland, which can delay projects.
They also cited various Government policy objectives which they said necessitated the fast deployment of renewable energy projects.
The council decision can be appealed to An Coimisiún Pleanála within four weeks.