April 13, 2015
Ireland

Council calls for ban on granting planning permission to wind farms – guidelines are outdated

13 Apr 2015 | www.donegalnow.com

Donegal Co. Council is calling on the Minister for the Environment to immediately introduce a ban on the granting of planning permission to any new wind farm developments until a full review of the current legislation and guidelines is carried out.

Cllr. Gary Doherty said that wind farm developments are a huge issue in Donegal.

He pointed out that the planning guidelines for wind farm developments were brought in back in 2006, and are now outdated.

He pointed out that the scale of wind farms has increased considerably since in terms of height and output, but there has been no movement form the government in terms of new guidelines.

Consequently he felt they should bring in a moratorium.

“The guidelines as they stand are not fit for purpose,” he contended.

Donegal Co. Council has wanted a minimum distance from turbines to homes increased from 500 metre to one kilometre.

However, despite the fact that new guidelines are meant to be coming in, the matter has been delayed.

Cllr. Doherty’s motion was passed.

See this week’s Donegal Post and Letterkenny Post/Finn Valley Post for more.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2015/04/13/council-calls-for-ban-on-granting-planning-permission-to-wind-farms-guidelines-are-outdated/