Council refuses permission for East Cork solar farm

Cork County Council has refused permission for a solar farm in East Cork with a total area of around 179 hectares, or 442 acres, after local residents expressed concern that a substation for the farm had already been granted permission.

Developer Ballysallagh Solar Farm Limited applied for a 10-year planning permission for a solar farm with an operational lifespan of 40 years, but residents of Leamlara in East Cork raised numerous concerns about the development.

The council, explaining reasons for refusal, said: “Having regard to the scale, extent, and extensive site coverage of the proposed solar farm, and the operational duration, relative to the existing rural landscape and residential properties, and in the absence of sufficient mitigation measures to break up the overall panoramic/monolithic nature of the proposed development … it is considered that the proposed solar farm would represent a visually incongruous and overbearing feature on the rural landscape at this location, which would be detrimental to the visual amenities of the area.”

This would materially contravene policy objective GI 14-9: Landscape of the Cork County Development Plan (2022) and would depreciate the value of property in the vicinity, they said, also expressing concern about baseline and proposed greenfield run-off rates, expressing concern that this could contribute to flood risk.

They also said that there was potential for impacts on the archaeological/cultural heritage of the area, and in the absence of a comprehensive archaeological impact assessment and comprehensive assessment of potential impacts, the applicant had not proven otherwise.

A total of 140 submissions by local residents and businesses were made to the planning application, and the decision to refuse permission comes after An Coimisiún Pleanála decided to grant planning for a 220kv substation in Ballysallagh last month.

The Leamlara Preservation Group had expressed concern that the substation was granted permission while permission for the solar farm it was attached to was still in the process of being decided by the council.

A spokesperson from An Coimisiún Pleanála explained: 

“Section 182A of the Planning and Development Act 2000 (as amended) requires an application for a substation and grid connection to be made directly to the Commission.

“Any application in relation to a solar farm is required to be made to the planning authority in the first instance.”