When Cllr James Tobin first raised a question about the proposed wind farm in Knockanore at a Dungarvan/Lismore District Council meeting a number of months ago, he was accused by a member of Waterford County and City Council of ‘scaremongering.’
On Monday last, in the council chambers in Dungarvan, Cllr Tobin challenged Waterford Council on the issue as it has since come to light that the proposed wind farm was indeed in the pipeline and it is likely that Waterford Council's planning department were aware of it at the time when the issue was first raised.
“These people (Innogy Renewables Ireland) are proposing this massive, massive wind farm. To me, the scale of this is unknown, and to be told you were scaremongering when the 800 people in the locality will get up every morning and face this monstrosity – 150 feet high – 25 of them planned just beside us. That’s not scaremongering, that’s telling the truth,” he stressed, at the June Dungarvan/Lismore meeting on Monday.
AN BORD PLEANALA
Waterford Council explained how the process will work if and when Innogy Renewables Ireland make a proposal to build a wind farm at Lyrenacarriga.
“The legislation is that once the company has consulted with the board and they are proceeding with a structured proposal, the company has to put a notice in the local paper stating that the proposal has been made. Then there a minimum six weeks public consultation period when anybody can make submissions.
"Within 10 weeks of the proposal being made to the board, the local authority will have to prepare a report that will go back to the board on our thoughts on it. As part of that process the CE’s report will come back to the council and the elected members can made additions to that report as they so wish,” explained Hugh O’Brien, executive planner at Waterford County and City Council.
The members then requested that in this particular case, they would like to ensure that the members of the Dungarvan/Lismore council would be the ones to make additions to the report.
