Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 17 June 2014
90. Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government his views on the fact that Westmeath County Council was told it could not impose restrictions on wind farms, despite the new regulations, following public consultation, not yet being put into place; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25446/14]
View answerOn 15 February 2014, I issued a notice of intent to issue a Direction, together with a draft Direction, to Westmeath County Council relating to the Westmeath County Development Plan 2014-2020 as adopted by the elected members on 21 January 2014. I formed the provisional opinion to issue such notice on the basis that the Planning Authority had ignored or not taken account of a submission made on my behalf in November 2013 in respect of the proposed material alterations to the draft Development Plan and that the Plan is not in compliance with the requirements of sections 9, 10, 12 and 28 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 (as amended).
The draft Direction outlined, inter alia, that the decision of the members to alter the policies and objectives in regard to the wind energy objectives as outlined in the draft Direction does not provide for proper planning and sustainable development and would therefore be significantly inconsistent with, inter alia, the Wind Energy Development Guidelines (June 2006). In this regard, planning authorities are required to have regard to the Guidelines when making decisions on applications for wind energy developments. The Guidelines were issued to planning authorities under Section 28 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 (as amended) and continue to apply pending any revisions to be made arising from the current focussed review of the Guidelines.
I recently extended by 4 weeks, the period for making my decision on the draft Direction, as provided for under section 31(16) of the Planning and Development Act 2000 (as amended), in order to ensure that each submission on the report of the Inspector in respect of the draft Direction in relation to the Westmeath County Development 2014-2022 (and on the report of the Inspector in relation to the draft Direction in respect of the Mullingar Local Area Plan 2014-2022), as well as the reports themselves, are carefully considered. Accordingly, I will make a decision on the draft Directions no later than 9 July 2014.
