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Inspector's Report ABP-305163-19

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Inspector's Report ABP-305163-19 Inspector’s Report ABP-305163-19 Development Ten-year planning permission for a seven turbine wind farm with a 30-year operational life and associated development. An EIAR and a NIS accompanied the application Location Behy, Cashelard, Tullyhork and Doobally townlands, Ballyshannon, County Donegal Planning Authority Donegal County Council Planning Authority Reg. Ref. 18/51741 Applicant Behy Renewable Energy Ltd. Type of Application Permission Planning Authority Decision Refuse Permission Type of Appeal First-Party Appellant Behy Renewable Energy Ltd. Observers 1. Maria Gniewitz 2. Colin McGovern & Others Dates of Site Inspection 26th June 2020 Inspector Colm McLoughlin ABP-305163-19 Inspector’s Report Page 1 of 144 Contents 1.0 Site Location and Description .............................................................................. 5 2.0 Proposed Development ....................................................................................... 5 3.0 Planning Authority Decision ................................................................................. 8 Decision ........................................................................................................ 8 Planning Authority Reports............................................................................ 8 Prescribed Bodies ....................................................................................... 10 Third-Party Submissions ............................................................................. 19 4.0 Planning History ................................................................................................. 22 Appeal Site .................................................................................................. 22 Surrounding Area ........................................................................................ 22 Similar Applications ..................................................................................... 23 5.0 Policy & Context ................................................................................................ 24 European Policy .......................................................................................... 25 National Policy ............................................................................................ 25 Regional Policy ........................................................................................... 28 Local Policy ................................................................................................. 29 Natural Heritage Designations .................................................................... 31 6.0 The Appeal ........................................................................................................ 32 Grounds of Appeal ...................................................................................... 32 Observations ............................................................................................... 38 Planning Authority Response ...................................................................... 41 Further Submissions ................................................................................... 42 7.0 Environmental Impact Assessment .................................................................... 43 Introduction & Statutory Provisions ............................................................. 43 ABP-305163-19 Inspector’s Report Page 2 of 144 Population and Human Health .................................................................... 47 Biodiversity .................................................................................................. 58 Land, Soil & Geology .................................................................................. 82 Water .......................................................................................................... 86 Air and Climate ............................................................................................ 93 Landscape & Visual Impact ......................................................................... 95 Cultural Heritage ....................................................................................... 103 Material Assets .......................................................................................... 106 Interaction of the Factors ....................................................................... 113 Reasoned Conclusion on the Significant Effects ................................... 114 8.0 Appropriate Assessment .................................................................................. 116 Introduction ............................................................................................... 116 Appropriate Assessment Stage 1 Screening ............................................. 116 Project Description .................................................................................... 116 Is the Project necessary to the Management of European sites? ............. 117 Direct, Indirect or Secondary Impacts ....................................................... 117 Connectivity & Likely Significant Effects .................................................... 117 Stage 1 - Screening Conclusion ................................................................ 123 Stage 2 - Appropriate Assessment ............................................................ 124 Test of Effects & Mitigation Measures ....................................................... 125 In-combination Effects ........................................................................... 126 Appropriate Assessment – Conclusion .................................................. 127 9.0 Planning Assessment ...................................................................................... 127 10.0 Recommendation ........................................................................................ 134 11.0 Reasons and Considerations....................................................................... 134 ABP-305163-19 Inspector’s Report Page 3 of 144 Appendices ............................................................................................................ 141 ABP-305163-19 Inspector’s Report Page 4 of 144 1.0 Site Location and Description Extending over a distance of 6km from east to west, the appeal site is located in a rural area of south County Donegal, approximately 2km northeast from the town of Ballyshannon and 3km north of the village of Belleek in County Fermanagh on the border with Northern Ireland. While the immediate area is characterised by a patchwork of fields to the east, the site is dominated by commercial forestry and peatlands elevated over the surrounding agricultural lands that are interspersed with one-off housing. The application site area is stated to amount to 111 hectares, with the site ranging in elevation from 65m to 165m Ordnance Datum (OD). It is traversed by a network of local roads and forestry tracks primarily situated between the N15 national road and the L-7775-2 local road to the west, and Lough Unshin and the L-7815 local road in the east. The subject lands drain in a northerly direction towards the Behy river and in a southerly direction towards Assaroe Lake. 2.0 Proposed Development The proposed development can be summarised as follows: • erection of seven wind turbines with a maximum tip height of 150m, providing for an estimated installed capacity of 27 megawatts (MW) or potential to produce approximately 82,782 megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity per annum. The turbines would typically be 4m in diameter at the base, tapering to 1.9m at the nacelle, with a foundation base c.19m in diameter and c.4m in depth and with reinforced concrete foundations, while turbine 5 would possibly require a piled foundation; • seven turbine hardstanding bases of approximately 35m x 55m (c.1,925sq.m), plus temporary set-down hardstanding areas for each turbine; • erection of an anemometry mast with a height of up to 100m, located off the L-7815 local road on the eastern side of the site, set onto a hardstanding base of 294sq.m and erected as either a free-standing structure or a structure held by guy wires; ABP-305163-19 Inspector’s Report Page 5 of 144 • excavation of a centrally-positioned borrow pit and associated infrastructure, measuring a stated 1.5ha and located between 119m OD and 144m OD level, to provide an estimated 150,000m3 of granular fill to be excavated by rock breaking and, if required, by blasting. The borrow pit would feature a 2m-high rock berm along the southern side adjacent to the site access tracks and would be backfilled with peat and soil in two trenches with depths of 8.7m to 10m; • construction of approximately 2.4km of new access tracks and upgrade of 7km of existing site access tracks (standard width of track is indicated as 5m), with passing-bays, associated drainage and adjacent parallel service trenches for cabling. Indicative depth of excavated tracks would vary typically from 0.5m for a new track and 0.3m over an existing widened track, and indicative depth of floating roads over peat level would be 0.9m. Construction material would be imported from the proposed on-site borrow pit, and any shortfall would be obtained from local quarries; • one new clear span watercourse crossing and two upgraded water crossings along the site access tracks; • an electricity substation compound measuring an approximate area of 0.25ha, enclosed by a 2.65m-high fence, encompassing a single-storey control building (with a stated gross floor area of
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