High Court dismisses judicial review challenge against 579ft-high wind farm in Clare
More than 300 people from the area lodged objections against the Fahy Beg wind farm proposal and Clare County Council refused planning permission to RWE Renewables Ireland Ltd for the 38.4 MW wind-farm on lands 1.5km from Bridgetown, and 3.5km from O'Briensbridge in south-east Clare in May 2023.
As part of the proposal, the wind-farm developers are to establish a Community Benefit Fund which will distribute up to €3.12m over the first 15 years of the wind farm.
Documents lodged with the application state that the provision of the Community Benefit Fund 'will have a significant long-term, positive effect on the socio-economic profile of the study area and wider area'.
The Council refused across five grounds including that the planned wind farm would depreciate the price of property as it would be visually over-bearing on those properties.
However, RWE Renewables Ireland appealed and An Bord Pleanala overturned the Council refusal to grant planning permission in March 2024.
In response, the Fahybeg Windfarm Opposition Group and Sean Conway launched High Court judicial review proceedings seeking to have the appeals board decision quashed for the wind farm which is to be located on a site 14km north of Limerick city.
Advertisement
However, Justice Richard Humphreys – who presides over the Planning and Environment Division of the High Court – has dismissed all grounds of the judicial review challenge.
The applicants claimed that the decision should be quashed as the planned wind farm would materially contravene the Development Plan due to the loss of part of Ballymoloney Woods.
Justice Humphreys stated that on the basis of the applicants' analysis, the felling of any tree necessarily constitutes a material contravention of the Development Plan.
Justice Humphreys stated that this approach represented an 'excessively literalist and absolutist interpretation' of development plan objectives.
Justice Humphreys stated that the application failed to engage with the specifics of the individual trees which are actually being felled, pointing 0.4 of a hectare or, or 0.2% of the total amount of long established woodland is being removed.
He said: 'There is no absolute prohibition on the removal of trees, contrary to the applicants' complaints, and a reasonably informed reader would not read such a preclusion into the Development Plan when same is read objectively and holistically.'
Justice Humphreys also dismissed the objectors' claim that planning permission should be quashed due to the impact that the wind farm would have on property prices in the area.
He said that there is no substantive evidence presented that would conclusively indicate a depreciation in property values directly attributable to the wind farm's presence at this particular location.
Justice Humphreys made no order in relation to costs.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RTÉ News
9 hours ago
- RTÉ News
NI minister to appeal High Court ruling on A5 upgrade
Stormont's Infrastructure minister is to appeal the decision of a Belfast court to overturn permission for Northern Ireland's biggest roads project. In June, Belfast's High Court found in favour of landowners who had opposed the redevelopment of the A5 road through Tyrone and Derry. The judge said there was insufficient evidence that the project complied with Stormont's own legally binding climate change legislation. Stormont's Climate Change Act of 2022 puts an onus on Stormont departments to ensure Northern Ireland meets its emissions targets and carbon budgets on the way to net zero by 2050. Mr Justice McAlinden said he had seen insufficient evidence that the building and operation of the new A5 fitted with this legal requirement. The £1.2 billion upgrade is an important link for the wider northwest, including Donegal, and is being supported with €600m of Irish Government money. In July, Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins flagged her intention to appeal but needed the support of her Executive colleagues. Today she said she had secured executive approval, and the case could now proceed to Northern Ireland's Court of Appeal. "I have instructed legal counsel to submit an appeal, and that will be done imminently ahead of the deadline for appeal, which is Friday 8 August," she said. She added: "So that is be it currently being finalised. I think it's fair to say that the officials and myself and my team have been working night and day to ensure that we are submitting a very robust appeal, whilst also looking at all of the other options, and we continue to work through that in parallel to the appeal that we will be lodging." The High Court decision to quash permission for the project was greeted with dismay by supporters. They had campaigned vociferously on behalf of the new road, citing safety concerns on what is an existing single carriageway that carries a large volume of business and farm traffic. The huge upgrade is a flagship project of the Northern Ireland Executive. Since the scheme to build a dual carriageway was first proposed, more than 50 people have been killed along the road. It has been dubbed the most dangerous road in Ireland. Landowners have successfully challenged the project three times, predominately on environmental grounds. They are opposed to the impact on farms and homes and say the existing road could be improved rather than building a new one. The land vested runs to more than 3,000 acres and affects more than 300 farms. Niall McKenna of the A5 Enough is Enough group said the news of the appeal comes as as a relief to the families of victims of this road and will be very much supported by them. In a statement, he said that "enough people have died on the A5. It is high time the courts stopped future lives being lost on this cruel road."
Irish Independent
2 days ago
- Irish Independent
Dulux Paints takes court action over Cork site
The site, which straddles the River Bride near the Commons Road in Blackpool on the northside of the city, had been used to manufacture paint for 140 years before Dulux closed it down at the end of last year. Dulux Ireland has now filed in the High Court a special summons, which is normally a fast-track procedure that can be used to resolve questions around deeds or the administration of trusts. Simon Colvan, head of communications UK and Ireland, for Akzonobel — the Dutch company that owns the Dulux paint brand — said in response to queries that the action was 'a relatively routine administrative process'. 'The case relates to our site in Cork and aims to resolve a historical ownership issue around part of the site. We're taking the necessary legal steps to ensure property records are accurate and up to date,' he said. Colvan did not respond when asked whether the legal move was necessary as part of a potential plan to sell the site by the firm. In May last year, Dulux announced it was shutting the paint manufacturing business on the Commons Road with the loss of 45 jobs. Most manufacturing of Dulux paint was moved to existing UK facilities. The news was a blow to the area and there were calls at the time for the site to be redeveloped. Reports at the time said although more than €2m was invested in an upgrade of the plant in 2010, that modernisation was needed and a new facility would have been required to retain production at the site. In 2019 the firm pleaded guilty after it was prosecuted by the Environmental Protection Agency for a breach of its Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Licence. A spokesman said 'the department has not received any papers in relation to any case involving Dulux Ireland. As such we cannot offer any comment.'
Irish Independent
2 days ago
- Irish Independent
Solar 21 still aiming to pay back 90pc despite insolvency of key asset
But such returns are now 'heavily dependent' on the value that can be achieved from the sale of the rights of a proposed energy project in North Lincolnshire that has the go-ahead from the UK government. That is according to an update from consultancy group Alvarez & Marsal which is supervising a High Court-approved scheme of arrangement aimed at repaying Solar 21 investors. Management has said the expected value of this proposed project is now 'significantly higher than the £100m (€116m) estimate provided in the Schemes'. Thousands of Irish investors are owed as much as €300m by the Rathcoole investment firm. The sale of the Tansterne power plant — which the company had valued at over €100m just two years ago — had long been touted as a key part of the plan to raise the money to repay investors. But in June it was sold as part of a 'pre-pack administration' for a total sale price of €4m, including €3.3m of debt, meaning the sale will not provide any return to the scheme of arrangement, according to the report. Trading performance at another key asset slated for sale, the Plaxton Biogas Plant, has been 'worse than forecast due to operational issues and liquidity constraints', the report said. 'There have also been delays obtaining planning consents and the planned sales process has been postponed following tax advice,' it said. The value that Solar 21 can achieve for the North Lincolnshire project rights will now need 'to compensate for the lower than-expected returns from the Tansterne Biomass Plant and Plaxton Biogas Plant,' said the report. 'It is also likely it will take longer than anticipated in the Schemes Scenario for funds to be returned to the Scheme Investors (although Management expects the assets will still be sold within the deadlines in the Schemes, i.e. by 26 November 2026),' it said.
