October 18, 2012
Ireland

Noise study took place just days before oral hearing

By Declan Magee | Published on Thursday 18 October 2012 | Donegal Democrat | www.donegaldemocrat.ie

A baseline noise level study into a wind farm development was carried out less than a week before the oral hearing into the development started.

The oral hearing into the application to build 22 wind turbines at six townlands near Glenties heard yesterday that a 12-day assessment of noise levels was only completed last Wednesday and a survey was not carried out before planning permission was granted last January.

The oral hearing was called after 15 appeals were lodged against the council’s decision in January to grant planning permission for 22 of the 25 turbines in the application.

The hearing into the development by Straboy Wind Energy got under way on Tuesday in Glenties. Submissions from the company outlined their case for the positive environmental impact and economic benefit of the project and its role in contributing to Ireland’s national energy targets.

In its submission, Donegal County Council refuted suggestions that there were procedural errors in the processing of the planning application.

Senior inspector with An Bord Pleanála, John Moore, said significant concerns were raised about the handling of the planning application

Senior executive planner with the council, Frank Sweeney, said submissions and observations on a further information submission by the developer were returned as invalid as they did not have evidence that the third party had made a previous submission. The submissions were retuned after having been initially accepted and the submissions could not be resubmitted as the decision to grant planning permission was made the same week.

Read more in today’s Donegal Democrat.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/10/18/noise-study-took-place-just-days-before-oral-hearing/