Coole wind farm plan quashed over EIA notice failures
The High Court has quashed planning permission for a 13-turbine wind farm in north Westmeath, and the judgement setting out the reasons for the decision, made in June, has now been published.
The court held that An Bord Pleanála had no jurisdiction to grant permission because notices published in advance of the application did not refer to a crucial part of the project: a 26km underground grid connection.
The case was brought by two applicants: Peter Sweetman, and the North Westmeath Turbine Action Group (NWMTAG). While all of Sweetman’s grounds – including arguments about ecology, peat stability, and planning policy – were rejected, NWMTAG succeeded on a single but decisive point: that the public was not adequately notified about the environmental impact assessment of the full project.
The proposed development included turbines, access roads, an on-site substation, a borrow pit, and road junction improvements across eight townlands. Though planning permission for the wind farm did not cover a grid connection, the Environmental Impact Assessment Report (EIAR) submitted by the developer included a connection route to a substation near Mullingar. This omission from public notices fatally undermined the EIA process, the court found.
Setting out the decision, Mr Justice Michael Quinn ruled that under EU law and the landmark O’Grianna decision, a wind farm and its grid connection must be treated as a single, integrated project for the purposes of environmental assessment. Public notices must therefore refer to all components, even if planning applications are submitted separately. In this case, the grid connection would pass through 21 townlands but was not mentioned in the published notice, breaching both the EIA Directive and national regulations.
The omission, the court said, was not a minor defect but a jurisdictional failure. Because valid public notification is a mandatory part of the EIA process, the Board’s decision to grant permission was invalid and had to be quashed.
Justice Quinn emphasised that public notice of the EIA must cover all significant aspects of a development, including off-site elements such as the grid connection. In this case, the notice did describe the turbines, borrow pit, link road and junction upgrades in detail, but completely omitted any mention of the grid connection.
That created a misleading picture for the public and failed to meet the transparency and consultation requirements of the EIA process.
The decision confirmed that while developers may choose to apply for separate planning permissions for wind farms and grid infrastructure, they must still conduct and properly notify the public of a combined environmental assessment and that failure to do so invalidated the entire process.
Eight years
Westmeath County Council originally refused permission for the wind farm in December 2017 on the basis that it would contravene new local development plan policies requiring minimum setback distances from residential properties.
The developer appealed to An Bord Pleanála, which in March 2019 granted permission, largely adopting the recommendations of its inspector. It is that permission that has now been set aside.
The proposed main site for the wind farm covers 439 hectares, mostly of commercial peatland and forestry. Coole is 2.5km distant and 12 homes are within 1km of the turbine locations.