March 21, 2021
Ireland

Parteen wind turbine queried at Council MD meeting

Owen Ryan | Clare Champion | clarechampion.ie

The development of a wind turbine in Parteen was raised at Tuesday’s meeting of Shannon Municipal District councillors, although debate was quite subdued, with a Council planning enforcement process in place.

Fianna Fáil’s Pat O’Gorman raised the matter, asking for an outline of “the background to the grant of planning permission for a wind turbine in Parteen without any consultation with the local community”. He also asked if the Council were satisfied that it was 500m from residential property and if the revelant appropriate assessment had been carried out before planning permission was first granted, and then had its duration extended.

A rather limited reply was provided by Acting Senior Executive Planner Gareth Ruane. “It is assumed that the motion in this instance relates to a turbine as recently erected in Parteen.

“This turbine was permitted under Planning Reference 10/453 and permission for same was granted on January 11, /2011. At the time of assessment of the application there were no third party submissions received with respect to this development.

“Under Planning Reference 15/812, an extension of the appropriate period of the application was permitted for an additional five years. All planning and technical reports are available on the files for inspection both in the Planning offices and on the Councils website.”

Councillor O’Gorman described the turbine as a “monstrosity” and said it appeared there had been no consultation with local people before permission had been granted. He said that he favours renewable energy, but that such things should not be built in the centre of a village. Several other councillors supported Councillor O’Gorman.

Director of Service Liam Conneally said that when an enforcement procedure is in place the Council won’t engage in discourse on the matter.

The initial application was submitted over ten years ago and sought permission for a single 800kW wind turbine, 73 meters high with a rotor diameter of 53 meters, and with ancillary road access.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2021/03/21/parteen-wind-turbine-queried-at-council-md-meeting/