January 23, 2014
Ireland

Ban large wind farms, says MEP

Esther Hayden – 15 January 2014 | www.independent.ie

A complete ban on large scale wind farms should be implemented across Ireland it has been claimed after Wicklow County Council refused permission of a wind farm on Butter Mountain.

Last week Wicklow County Council rejected a planning application for nine 3MW wind turbines at Butter Mountain, Ballyfolan, Manor Kilbride.

MEP Nessa Childers welcomed the decision and said: ‘There should be a complete national moratorium on large scale wind turbine developments due to the lack of adequate national planning regulations’.

Ms. Childers had lodged an objection to the planning proposal based on the threat to wildlife and local economy citing the ‘lack of a national strategy to protect landscapes, and the failure to take into account damage to habitats, the local economy, and quality of life for communities who have to live close to these industrial scale developments,’ as the motivation behind her objection.

‘I also believe that the Government is too focused on wind farms as a means to meet our alternative energy quota by 2020.

‘Other methods of power generation through more secure sources – such as biomass, which would suit the Irish agricultural economy – have been starved of funding.

‘We also need to invest in energy efficiency in our buildings to meet our CO2 reduction targets. This would have the knock on benefit of actually creating sustainable local jobs.’

In her submission to Wicklow County Council, Ms. Childers stated that the application for the turbines at Butter Mountain should be rejected on four grounds: Negative impact on the ecology of the area; Negative impact on landscape and natural heritage; Potential to cause distraction at night for M50 motorists driving southbound and Negative socio-economic impact on the local area.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2014/01/23/ban-large-wind-farms-says-mep/