Solar farm appealed
THE company hoping to erect a 377 acre solar farm in Foulksmills have appealed a decision by Wexford County Council to refuse the development to An Bord Pleanala.
Permission was sought in mid-June by Highfield Solar Ltd for a 152.8 hectare (377 acre) solar farm to be located at Raheenduff, Haresmead, Rosspile, Coolcliffe and Horetown North. The ten year planning permission includes permission for solar photovoltaic panels on ground mounted steel frames, an IPP electrical control building and compound an inverter/transformer stations, battery storage units, storage containers and spare buildings, underground power and communication cables and ducts; boundary security fencing; upgraded internal access tracks and associated site works.
Meetings were held in Clongeen by `Community First Action Group’, where concerns were raised about the effects the solar farm could have on the area including that the value of homes within the vicinity of the development could be reduced by 50 to 70 per cent. Planning permission was refused for the solar farm in June and Highfield Solar Ltd appealed the decision on September 3. In their decision in mid-August Wexford County Council planners said: a development of this nature and scale due to its character and location on a fragmented holding of 152 hectares would militate against the preservation of the landscape, cultural heritage resources, the amenities of the residential population and agricultural land use patterns and would be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area; it would occupy highly productive agricultural lands and would undermine the agricultural sector in the area; it would represent an incongruous and dominant feature in the rural landscape; due to a lack of guidance at national, regional and local level in relation to the appropriate location, scale and distribution of proposals for solar farm arrays of this size and scale ; the proposed development would set an undesirable precedent for other similarly scaled developments and there was insufficient information on the impact on biodiversity and ecology of the area of the proposed development. CLONGEEN National School Parents Association welcomed new school principal Mr John Culloton to the school on his first day.
On the day they also presented Ms Grace’s class with a new whiteboard and laptop.
John who hails from Glynn is no stranger to Clongeen.
He arrived in Clongeen N.S. 21 years ago and taught there for three years before going on to teach in St. Aidans in Enniscorthy.
A Clongeen National School spokesperson A 28-year-old New Ross man who spat in the face of a garda and threatened to rape the officer’s children appeared before the District Court sitting in Wexford.
The judge learned how five gardaí were required to arrest Wayne Roche of 26 Irishtown, New Ross on October 4 last year.
Brought to the barracks after being apprehended, he spat in the face of one of the gardaí.
He also made threats towards his family while he was being held in custody on the execution of a warrant for his arrest.
The court was told that it had taken five officers to restrain Roche as he was being arrested and that he refused to calm down said: ‘ The Parents Association have funded the new equipment through fundraising carried out over the previous years and were delighted to be able to contribute something as important as this to the school.’ on arrival at the station. Defending solicitor Lana Doherty said her client had started smoking heroin at the age of 18 but had recently undertaken a total detox.
The defendant had no memory of the events described, Ms Doherty reported.
She said he was now detained serving a sentence at Wheatfield Prison imposed in Waterford.
He was due for release in January but Judge Gerard Haughton decided to postpone his liberty.
Roche was sentenced to eight months imprisonment for making threats and four months concurrent for assault.