Planning anomaly costing schools thousands – Smyth

An anomaly in the planning rules means that schools that want to install solar panels on the roof must apply for planning permission – even though it’s not required for residential, commercial, industrial and business buildings, Cllr Hazel Smyth revealed at last week’s meeting of Westmeath County Council.

The Green Party councillor told colleagues that at present there is a planning exemption for some buildings where less than 50 per cent of the roof is to be covered by solar panels – but no for schools and community buildings.

Cllr Smyth said that created an unfair burden and extra cost on schools wishing to pursue this option.

She got unanimous support for her call to have Westmeath County Council formally request that the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government allow the exemption be applied to schools and community buildings as a matter of urgency.

Proposing her motion, Cllr Smyth reminded colleagues that Ireland’s national Climate Action Plan set a target for this country of 70 per cent renewable electricity by 2030. While ambitious, it was feasible, and measures such as this would help, she said.

Cllr Smyth, who is a member of the board of Columba College in Killucan and chairperson of the Sustainable Energy Community in Mullingar, said at present, for a school to install even one panel, it required planning: “It costs about €3,500 for a consultant to prepare the drawings and lodge an application,” she said.

Fianna Fáil councillor Vinny McCormack seconded Cllr Smyth’s motion, saying that during the summer months, schools with solar panels could feed electricity into the national grid, which could then be offset against energy bills for the rest of the year.

Cllr McCormack suggested that the minister for education be asked to consider a scheme to support schools to install solar panels and other energy efficiency programmes.

Cllr John Shaw said he had not been aware of the anomaly. He said many schools had large roofs which would be suitable for panels, and he agreed with Cllr McCormack’s suggestion of a grants scheme to help meet the large upfront costs involved.

Fellow Green councillor, Louise Heavin described Cllr Smyth’s suggestion as really worthwhile, and was of the view that many schools would like to pursue this option.

Also supportive of the proposal was Cllr Denis Leonard, adding that as someone who signed the invoices for a school, the highest bill was energy.

“It is a huge amount of sometimes wasted money when we could have energy sources onsite and could become almost energy self-sufficient,” he said.

Cllr Tom Farrell said it was a worthy motion, adding that as chairman of a board of management, he said he was aware of how high energy costs are, while Cllr Frank McDermott said he too had been unaware that schools had to apply for planning permission to install solar panels.