The High Court will rule on Friday whether to permit a challenge to be brought to the proposed construction of a wind farm in an area described as "a spectacularly beautiful part of south west Cork".
Mr Manfred Muller, of Coomacroobeg, Kealkill, Co Cork, yesterday applied for leave to seek orders quashing the decision of May 30th, 2002, of An Bord Pleanála to grant, by a two to one majority and subject to 10 conditions, planning permission for a wind farm and associated site works at Cappyboy Beg, Curraglass, Coomacroobeg, and Maugha, Kealkill, Co Cork.
The application for leave was opposed by An Bord Pleanála and South Western Services Co-op Limited (SWSC).
After hearing submissions from Dr Michael Forde SC, for Mr Muller, Mr James Connolly SC, for the board, and Mr Bill Shipsey SC, for SWSC, Mr Justice White said he would give his decision on Friday.
The court heard the proposed development is of 10 turbines of 50-metre hub height and 50-metre blade diameter with a blade tip height of 75 metres. This, Mr Muller said, was some one and a quarter times higher than the County Hall in Cork and was likely to have "a devastating impact on this landscape of especially high amenity".
Mr Muller said the area in question was "a spectacularly beautiful part of south west Cork" and the Cork County Development Plan had designated the site as visually vulnerable and an area of special landscape control.
He also noted the board's own inspector had recognised the devastating impact the development would have on the landscape and, on the basis of that visual impact, had recommended permission be refused.Mr Muller also argued that the Environmental Impact Statement which accompanied the planning application had failed to address ancillary and incidental impacts of the proposed development and in particular the power lines and ancillary facilities which would arise as a consequence of the development.
In an affidavit opposing the application, Mr Declan Waugh, environmental manager of SWSC, said it had applied for permission for the wind farm development in November 2000 on behalf of its client, Mr Timothy Buckley, owner of the lands in question.
Mr Buckley had commissioned South Western Environmental Services (SWES), a division of SWSC, to provide an EIS on the nature and extent of the environmental impacts arising from the proposed development.
The EIS and planning application were forwarded to Cork County Council which granted permission for the development in November 2001, subject to 61 conditions. Two appeals were made to An Bord Pleanála against that decision but the board in May 2002 upheld the permission, subject to 10 conditions.