A court has slapped down planners for letting 'irrelevant' details stop a Kildare wind farm
The 47-turbine ‘Maighne’ project was first put forward in 2015.
THE HIGH COURT has ”quashed in its entirety” a refusal by An Bord Pleanála to grant planning permission for a 47-turbine wind farm on the Kildare-Meath border.
In his judgment today, Mr Justice Robert Haughton ruled that the application for the ‘Maighne’ wind farm should be remitted back to the national planning authority for reconsideration.
The court said it was setting aside An Bord Pleanála’s decision on grounds including that irrelevant considerations were taken into account when it turned down an application from Element Power Ireland Ltd to develop the project.
In 2015, the developer had sought planning permission from the board to construct the turbines – 45 in north-west Kildare and two in Meath – as well as an electricity substation, underground cables, and 31km of access tracks.
In October 2016, the board refused to grant permission for the development. The proposed turbines were to be developed in five clusters and would be 169m high.
In its decision, the board said it was turning down the proposal on grounds including that it would be premature in the absence of any national wind energy strategy with a spatial dimension for the areas concerned.
The project would, the board said, represent an undesirable precedent that could undermine any future strategy for the area.
Other reasons cited by the board included that the project, which consists of widely dispersed, cluster-based wind farms, would have an adverse effect on the local residences and heritage and would have long-term, significant adverse effects on the structural integrity of the local road network.
Court challenge
Element Power challenged the board’s refusal on grounds including that planning authority had acted outside its powers and that its decision in relation to the lack of a national wind energy strategy was too vague and unclear to be adequate.
In a detailed and lengthy judgment, Justice Haughton held that the board had acted outside of its powers and had taken irrelevant considerations into account when it decided to refuse permission on the basis of a lack of a national wind energy strategy.
The judge said that a wind energy policy was contained in two relevant county developments plans. However, in its decision to refuse the project, it appeared that the board failed to address by reference to those plans if it should grant permission.
The judge also found that the board had fettered its discretion when it determined that the proposed development was premature pending the implementation of a national wind energy strategy.
In all the circumstances, the judge said he was satisfied to quash the decision in its entirety and sent the matter back for reconsideration.
