The owners a family-run Cork hotel has expressed their frustration at a decision by An Bórd Pleanála to approve a wind farm which will allegedly overshadow a scenic valley and major tourist attraction.
The complaints were made by the management of the Gougane Barra Hotel on Twitter this week.
“Life in the unspoilt natural valley of Gougane Barra in West Cork has been irrevocably changed this week as An Bord Pleanala (ABP) has given permission to a controversial €30 million ultra-high windfarm project on the southern slopes of Gougane Barra, in Curraglass & Derreendonee,” the hotel tweeted.
“This week, their decision changes our valley.”
This week, their decision, changes our valley.
— Gougane Barra Hotel (@gouganebarra) February 6, 2022
Cork County Council and An Bórd Pleanála had originally rejected the application for the wind farm by Wingleaf Renewable Energy. However, after an appeal, the Bórd ultimately accepted the application.
The plan includes seven wind turbines, and according to hotel owner Neil Lucey, each one will be 178.5 metres tall including turbines – “higher than most peaks in County Cork.”
For a sense of scale, Dublin spire is 120 metres tall.
“Some of these enormous wind turbines will be on sited on 300m elevations just south of here,” Lucey told The Corkman newspaper, adding that the turbines would be “just 1995m from the iconic St. Finbarr’s Oratory in Gougane Barra.”
“In their controversial decision, An Bórd Pleanála have rejected their own inspector’s strong advice, rejected Cork County Council’s strong advice, ignored our community’s wishes and the wishes of every person who has ever stood in Gougane Barra and felt it’s magic.”
According to Lucey, Cork County Council advised ABP that the wind farm would be “excessively domineering” to the view of the area, including numerous scenic tourist routes such as the Wild Atlantic Way.
“ABP accepts that our community can be subject to up to 30 minutes shadow flicker every day and will have to listen to the continuous noise of these turbines daily,” the hotel continued.
“The joy of rural living is slipping away as an industrial giant moves in.
“We respect the need for climate change, and we are on our own green commitment journey, we will be carbon neutral in the near future. There is a time and place for all things. There are decisions to be made but this decision by ABP doesn’t sit with nature.”
The hotel added that it was speaking to its legal team “planning our next steps.”
“How can a small, supposedly informed board, far away from Gougane Barra, have so much power to go against the majority wishes and allow this huge development?” they said.
“Would they allow this to happen on the comparative slopes of Glendalough?
“Goodbye real Ireland, goodbye peace and tranquillity, goodbye beautiful landscape, goodbye quiet spirituality, goodbye picture-perfect scenes, goodbye 622-hectares of unspoilt nature, goodbye silent nights, and dark skies.”
Those who back the windfarm insist that the development “would have an acceptable impact on the landscape having regard to its overall benefits and would not seriously injure the residential or visual amenities of the area.”
At least one commenter contested the location of the wind farms, saying that they would not be in view of the hotel.
https://twitter.com/GilmoreEoinJ/status/1490698851463880704