The following email and map have been submitted to our website which we now share. Tap on the map to enlarge. (S.R.)
Ballinagree Wind Farm
Some of you might have heard “something” about the proposed development being referred to as The Ballinagree Wind Farm. Many people have heard nothing about it and those that have probably think that it has nothing to do with us as it is outside our area. However the perimeter of the windfarm comes to within ¾ of a mile of St. John’s Well and within a mile of The Kerryman’s Table. It also crosses the Millstreet / Rylane road at the car park –see map attached. The area highlighted in yellow is the proposed site and approximately 60% of this area is owned by Coillte.
This means that this development should be of serious concern to the people of Kilcorney, Aubane, Tullig and Millstreet and all surrounding areas.
These wind-turbines can be heard from in excess of a mile away on a calm or frosty day yet the developers can get planning permission to site them as close as 500 meters from a dwelling house – this is less than a third of a mile. This does not even begin to take into account the desecration of an area of great natural beauty or their detrimental effect on people with certain medical conditions.
Everyone needs to make themselves aware of what is planned and make an informed decision regarding whether or not they want this development to proceed in our area.
Details of an information evening / meeting will be posted at a later date.
On a broader level the Government is currently conducting a public consultation on the “Revised Wind Energy Development Guidelines” which will close on Wednesday Feb. 19th. 2020. This is an opportunity to have your say regarding Wind Energy and how it impacts on local communities. You can make your submissions by email to the following – <WEDGReview@housing.gov.ie>; or by writing to the following address:
WEDG Review Submissions,
Planning Policy and Legislation Section
Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government,
Custom House,
Dublin 1,
D01 W6X0.
This is an opportunity to have your say that will not present itself again and should not be missed.
I cannot agree that this is either a fair or balanced article on wind power. It is very NIMBYish
I have been often up there and whilst I accept that a wind farm does not add aesthetically to the area it also has to accepted that fossil fuels and a petro. chemical based civilisation will have much worse consequences for a lot more people if we do not take extreme mitigation action and quickly.
This line of thought may not impress some but unless someone comes up with better solutions then let a more balanced viewpoint prevail.
Not in my name…
Of course everyone is concerned about alternative energy because of climate control but we don’t have to sit back and have our area flooded with wind turbines without full knowledge of them CONSULTATION is needed we do also realise that we are dealing with big consortiums with millions behind them but it’s too late when they are spinning
Wind turbines, apart from the fibreglass blades which are not biodegradable, are made mostly of steel, with concrete bases. They need about 200 times as much material per unit of capacity as a modern combined cycle gas turbine. Steel is made with coal, not just to provide the heat for smelting ore, but to supply the carbon in the alloy. Cement is also often made using coal. The machinery of ‘clean’ renewables is the output of the fossil fuel economy, and largely the coal economy.
A two-megawatt wind turbine weighs about 250 tonnes, including the tower, nacelle, rotor and blades. Globally, it takes about half a tonne of coal to make a tonne of steel. Add another 25 tonnes of coal for making the cement and you’re talking 150 tonnes of coal per turbine. Now if we are to build 350,000 wind turbines a year (or a smaller number of bigger ones), just to keep up with increasing energy demand, that will require 50 million tonnes of coal a year. That’s about half the EU’s hard coal–mining output.
So tell me again how they help the environment?
NIMBYish……what a lovely word and such an easy accusation to make. I wonder does Jerry Morley have to live under the shadow of a Wind Farm.
Did you not read the article??? Wind Turbines can be heard in excess of a mile away yet a developer can get planning for one as close as 500 meters from a dwelling house. This is less than a third of a mile. Do you think that this is acceptable? I think that it is not!!!
A developer is required to engage in meaningful consultation with the local community. From the developer’s own brochure general ecological studies began back in July 2017 yet two and a half years later most of the people I spoke to [in the area] were unaware of the proposed development. This is not a consultation……this is an attempt to achieve a “fait accompli”.
NIMBY ? Perhaps ! Next It Might Be You !
I strongly recommend that the residents of Ballynagree educate their community and make an informed decision on this matter !
Note that the 500mt is just a guideline and is breached without repercussion in most cases ! Here on this side of Sliabh Luachra we have homes within 380mt of giant size industrial turbines despite the planning authority acknowledging the guidelines but stating “it’s only a guideline , not law”.
One has to ask why these developers are offering payment to locals not to object, offering money to local groups and dividing communities, offering to acoustically insulate neighbouring homes, offering triple glazed windows and doors to locals in a bid to pacify and control! Why did 7 families leave their homes in Banteer and why did the windfarm developers pay them to leave…. There is nothing green about these infar-sound generating Monstrosities ! Tormenting families with light flicker and noise pollution! I invite any of you to come and experience what it is like just for 20 minutes! Make your own decision. If you don’t address this as a community many of you will end up in individual Judicial reviews- high court hearings in the coming years as it is impossible to live under the shadow of these turbines! Remember these will be taller than the spire in Dublin, taller than Cobh Cathedral! The wildlife like the Hen Harrier will no longer be in your community if this town land becomes an industrial zone ! Act now or spend the next 25years regretting you didn’t!
Climate change reality, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_pEjJ5F0gw
This is what we have written in response to the Govt. consultation on windfarms. Feel free to use any of it to respond to them too.
1) Proposed setback distance is too close. In my opinion turbines should be set at a minimum of 3km from a dwelling house. This is due to noise disturbance, flicker and visual pollution, evidence for all of which have been well documented
2) An open and honest community consultation needs to take place before any contracts are signed by landowners. In far too many cases, contracts are signed, without any get out clause, before the community is consulted. It is only then that the ‘public consultation’ takes place. This is sneaky and underhand, and understandably divides and angers communities, pitching residents against the landowners and those who stand to benefit from the windfarm. There have often been cases also of landowners wanting to get out of contracts after a community backlash but are unable to do so
3) The guidelines need to be set in law, otherwise they are pointless and blatantly disregarded by developers. People and ecosystems that are affected by windfarm development need to have legal rights to challenge inappropriate development. In this vein, ecosystems and their animals need to have equal rights as people to exist without significant disturbance or pollution
4) The size of the turbines has grown exponentially. They are simply too big and are an eyesore for miles around.
5) There needs to be an independent study done on the actual carbon footprint and carbon reduction capabilities of wind turbines. It does not seem to me to be clear-cut that destroying the countryside with large scale industrial wind farms is actually a cost-effective or efficient way of reducing the country’s carbon footprint. In fact, many studies suggest that there is very little actual reduction in carbon output from windfarms, once construction, erection, battery storage, spinning reserve and the impact on local wildlife is taken into account. Perhaps measures such as reforestation, protection and encouragement of biodiversity, retrofitting homes, subsidies for biodiversity in farming and investment in public transport would be more effective. Studies funded by wind energy companies are not to be trusted.
6) Planning guidelines need to be reviewed. 85ft masts can be erected without planning in an area where locals are unable to get permission to construct a dwelling house because of the “aesthetic impact on the skyline.” This is hypocritical
It seems to us that there is a massive independent body of research questioning the viability, sustainability and ethics of windfarms that the government is simply ignoring. Communities around Ireland are being torn apart; livelihoods, homes, wildlife and ecosystems are being destroyed in the name of reducing carbon emissions. It is not an acceptable trade-off, especially when the reality of that reduction itself is in question, and especially when there are viable alternatives. Considering the climate and environmental crisis we are dealing with, the government needs to look beyond short term economic gain and big projects that look fancy but achieve very little, and make tough political decisions that actually work.
Mushera is a beautiful mountain that we are all so lucky to have on our doorstep. It has an ancient name linked with our tribal ancestors and its summit and slopes and surrounding town lands are rich in the prehistoric monuments of these people; in fact we have the highest concentration of them in northern Europe! There are apparently also seven holy wells dotted around Mushera’s slopes, although I am only familiar with three.
All throughout history up until present day people from far and wide have come here to pray and drink the healing water at our wells, and to take time out to enjoy the breathtaking views offered from this unique wild magical place. In recent years the people of Ballinagree have rekindled the old tradition of dancing at the platform which is a huge success and beneficial to all.
However in recent decades Coillte have planted mass plantations of sitka spruce which have destroyed the slopes of the mountain, robbing it of its true native character. These toxic woodlands directly interfere with the sensitive upland ecosystem and cause massive run offs to the lowlands, which in turn cause flooding.
This need not be the case. With political will and a little effort at rewilding, we could slowly replace the invasive sitka spruce with native trees, and our landscape would become a haven for biodiversity, and opportunities for nature-based tourism.
Instead, Coillte invite a Canadian multinational company (Brookfield Renewables) to drive the nail in the coffin as it were by erecting these industrial monstrosities on the slopes of our beautiful mountain and the surrounding area, destroying it forever.
The potential for low impact tourism which can benefit all will be destroyed. The opportunity to take time out to pray at our holy wells in silence will be gone. The sound of horrible swishing of turbine blades will replace the beautiful sound of the skylark, the curious ravens and the sky dancing hen harrier amongst many others, and our beautiful views during the assent and at the summit will be destroyed forever. Meanwhile the profit being made at our expense will be sold as stocks and shares on the global market.
As a community we have the choice either to stand up together and fight the good fight for these and many other beautiful flora and fauna of our area or lie down and say nothing and let these parasites devour our area even more……The choice is yours…….