The Grid West Project Volume 1 Constraints Report August 2012 TOBIN CONSULTING ENGINEERS REPORT PROJECT: The Grid West Project CLIENT: EirGrid plc The Oval 160 Shelbourne Road Ballsbridge Dublin 4 COMPANY: TOBIN Consulting Engineers Market Square Castlebar County Mayo www.tobin.ie DOCUMENT AMENDMENT RECORD Client: EirGrid plc Project: The Grid West Project Title: Constraints Report PROJECT NUMBER: 6424 DOCUMENT REF: 6424-A 6424 Report Template 200812.doc Rev A Final Constraints Report MH 200812 MG 200812 MG 200812 Revision Description & Rationale Originated Date Checked Date Authorised Date TOBIN Consulting Engineers TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 ECOLOGY .......................................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 LANDSCAPE ...................................................................................................................................................... 1 1.3 SOILS & GEOLOGY ........................................................................................................................................... 2 1.4 WATER .............................................................................................................................................................. 2 1.5 CULTURAL HERITAGE ..................................................................................................................................... 2 1.6 SETTLEMENTS ................................................................................................................................................. 3 1.7 UTILITIES AND INFRASTRUCTURE ................................................................................................................ 3 1.8 ENGINEERING CONSIDERATIONS ................................................................................................................. 3 1.9 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................................................... 3 2 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................................ 5 2.1 THE PURPOSE OF THIS REPORT ................................................................................................................... 5 2.2 ABOUT EIRGRID .............................................................................................................................................. 5 2.3 GRID25 .............................................................................................................................................................. 6 2.4 GRID WEST PROJECT ..................................................................................................................................... 6 2.5 TERMS OF REFERENCE .................................................................................................................................. 8 3 SUMMARY OF COMMUNICATIONS TO DATE ...................................................................................................... 11 3.1 PUBLIC CONSULTATION................................................................................................................................ 11 3.2 STRATEGIC STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION ............................................................................................ 14 4 STRATEGIC PLANNING CONTEXT ....................................................................................................................... 16 4.1 STRATEGIC INFRASTRUCTURE ACT (2006) ................................................................................................ 16 4.2 NATIONAL POLICY ......................................................................................................................................... 16 4.3 REGIONAL PLANNING GUIDELINES ............................................................................................................. 21 4.4 LOCAL PLANS ................................................................................................................................................. 22 4.5 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................................................. 26 5 STUDY AREA IDENTIFICATION AND RATIONALE .............................................................................................. 28 5.1 STUDY AREA IDENTIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION ................................................................................... 28 5.2 STUDY AREA RATIONALE ............................................................................................................................. 29 6 IDENTIFICATION AND MAPPING OF CONSTRAINTS .......................................................................................... 30 6.1 IDENTIFICATION OF CONSTRAINTS ............................................................................................................ 30 6.2 CONSTRAINTS MAPPING .............................................................................................................................. 31 7 ECOLOGY ................................................................................................................................................................ 33 7.1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................................. 33 7.2 METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................................................. 33 7.3 EXISTING ENVIRONMENT ............................................................................................................................. 36 7.4 CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................................................... 41 8 LANDSCAPE ........................................................................................................................................................... 43 Page (i) 8.1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................................. 43 8.2 METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................................................. 43 8.3 EXISTING ENVIRONMENT ............................................................................................................................. 46 8.4 CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................................................... 50 9 GEOLOGY ................................................................................................................................................................ 51 9.1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................................. 51 9.2 METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................................................. 51 9.3 EXISTING ENVIRONMENT ............................................................................................................................. 53 9.4 CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................................................... 55 10 WATER ................................................................................................................................................................ 57 10.1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................... 57 10.2 METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................................................................... 57 10.3 EXISTING ENVIRONMENT ......................................................................................................................... 58 10.4 CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................................................................... 62 11 CULTURAL HERITAGE ....................................................................................................................................... 63 11.1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................... 63 11.2 METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................................................................... 66 11.3 EXISTING ENVIRONMENT ......................................................................................................................... 67 11.4 CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................................................................... 75 12 SETTLEMENTS ..................................................................................................................................................