Published: Wednesday, 10th March, 2010 6:00pm

Windfarm plan attracts over 300 objections

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Westmeath County Council has received 336 objections to the planning application lodged by the Cavan firm Galetech for permission to build a 12 turbine windfarm at Gaybrook.

A massive number of objections came in on Wednesday and Thursday of last week, as residents from a large swathe of south-east Mullingar, but from other parts of the county and further afield, rushed to ensure they had their objections in and fees paid before Thursday evening's deadline.

A decision on the Galetech application is due from the County Council as soon as March 25, but given the scale of the application, and the number of objections, it is unlikely that the Council will have concluded its deliberations on the issue by that date.

The committee set up locally to lobby against the windfarm proposal has admitted it is delighted with the number of objections lodged - believed to be the most ever lodged in the county against any planning application.

"I'd hope that the Council will wake up and see what could happen if this windfarm goes ahead," Emily Wallace, one of the residents who would be affected by the development, told the Westmeath Examiner this week.

While the firm behind the proposal, which also runs a windfarm in County Cavan, did hold a public information meeting locally, there wasn't, Mrs. Wallace said, enough consultation.

"I hope that they will now listen to the residents.

"It's not that we are against the idea (of wind farms) but we are against the location of this windfarm.

"It has bigger implications for the densely populated area where we live," she stated.

Huge numbers have turned up at a series of meetings held at the Bloomfield House Hotel by locals since news of the application first broke. The areas to which the Galetech application relates cover the areas of Gaybrook Mahonstown, Gibbonstown, Ballintlevy, Belfield or Brannockstown, Gallstown and Gaybrook Demesne. Evidence of the level of feeling against the proposal is the number of applications that have come in not just from continued from front

Gaybrook, but also, in large numbers, from Rochfortbridge and Milltownpass, with a number also from Mullingar itself.

Among those who have lodged formal objections are Deputy Willie Penrose, Senator Nicky McFadden, Cllr. Peter Burke, Cllr. Colm Arthur, while representations have been made by Cllrs. Ken Glynn and Robert Troy.

Concerns locally centre over a number of issues: the height of the turbines - which is to see towers of 85 metres in height, with sails with a wingspan of 100 metres, giving a total height of 130 metres; the difficulty of living with the shadows, the flicker, and the noise of the turbines, possible effects on health, and the effects of the development on property prices locally.

At public meetings, it has been stated that the nearest houses to the turbines will be just 356 miles distant. Questions have also been raised about what ESB substation the electricity generated at the 2.5MW Gaybrook turbines will be transported to, and locals argue that there may well be massive high-voltage lines on large pylons erected to carry the energy to a substation which could even be in Mullingar.

In an interview with the Westmeath Examiner earlier this year, Galetech's Project Planner, Jennifer Rudden, said that negotiations began about a year ago with the eleven landowners onto whose farms the turbines are to be placed, and if planning permission comes through, there are agreements in place for the coming thirty years - the recommended timespan, in planning terms, for windfarm developments.

Galetech's arguments haven't, however, convinced residents of the Gaybrook area, who have travelled to Cavan to see the windfarm there, and to speak with residents living near the development.

"Wind energy is a great idea but there is no regulation as to where they can be situated and we are trying to make a stand and tell our Government that there is enough land in the country for the proper development of these wind farms, but that Gaybrook is not suitable because 251 houses are located within one kilometre of the turbines, while a further 2000 house will be affected by power lines connecting the wind farm to the national grid, it's simply not on," Mrs. Wallace told the Westmeath Examiner this week.