Opposition to plans for retention of Lemanaghan wind mast
A West Offaly conservation and heritage group has urged Offaly County Council to reject a planning application by Bord na Móna to extend the life of a wind monitoring mast on Lemanaghan Bog for a further three years.
In a strongly-worded statement, the Lemanaghan Bog Heritage and Conservation Group has called on public representatives and the local community to support its efforts to safeguard the bog from “unnecessary industrial encroachments.”
The group said modern technology offers “more sophisticated and less intrusive alternatives for wind measurement”. It said the continued presence of the 100-metre-high mast in an area of heritage and ecological importance “disrupts the natural landscape that many have worked hard to preserve".
Describing the existing mast on Lemanaghan Bog as both “invasive and redundant” the local group saidL ”We believe in sustainable development that respects our natural heritage. This mast does not align with those values,” the statement continued.
Council planners are due to make a decision on the planning application by Bord na Móna Powergen Ltd., by August 13 next. The company applied for retention of the mast in order to “to assess the suitability of the company's adjacent lands for windfarm development” according to the planning documents.
The cover letter from Bord na Móna which was submitted as part of the planning application for retention of the mast stated that “The original construction of the wind monitoring mast was undertaken by Galetech Energy Developments Ltd in July 2019 on cutaway peat land “within the Bord na Móna landholding” at Lemanaghan Bog. The mast is 100 metres in height, 3.3 metres in length and weighs approximately four tonnes. It is powered by solar energy and “no external services” are required.
The mast has no concrete foundations, being placed instead on a base “constructed from timber railway sleepers” and it is inspected annually using specialised climbers.
The applicants state in the cover letter that an extension to the wind measurement campaign “will ensure greater accuracy of wind predictions in the region” and will feed into the “design, extent and operation” of any windfarm development in the area.
The planning application attracted two submissions, one from a Peter Sweetman with an address in Bantry, county Cork which stated that as the development is within the Zone of Influence of a number of named Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protected Areas, an Appropriate Assessment is required, and a second from the Irish Aviation Authority seeking the installation of specialised lighting which will be of a type visible to Night Vision equipment, and also asked to be notified 30 days prior to any “necessitated crane operations” at the site of the mast. The community of Lemanaghan has mounted an ongoing campaign of opposition to any plans by Bord na Móna to construct a wind energy project in Lemanaghan bog.
This resulted in over 1,500 submissions being handed in to Offaly County Council in 2021 seeking to have a controversial clause in the Draft County Development Plan amended to prohibit the construction of wind energy projects. The submissions sought to have the plan amended to remove Lemanaghan Bog as an area open to consideration for wind energy.