Locals 'very angry' after €500m power plant given the green light by WCC

Westmeath County Council has come under fire for granting planning permission for a €500m energy facility on the outskirts of Rochfortbridge despite widespread local opposition.

The council has given Offaly firm Lumcloon Energy Limited the green light to construct a natural gas fuelled power plant and battery storage facility on a 52 acre site next to the M6 motorway.

The project has met with significant opposition in the Rochfortbridge area with over 100 objections submitted by local residents.

Sean Staunton, the spokesperson for the Rochfortbridge Power Plant Committee told the Westmeath Examiner that people are “very angry” with the council.

“Lumcloon is a private company and is within its rights to apply for planning permission for whatever it wants. We just hoped that the council would make a decision that was based on everybody's interest and we don't believe that has happened.

“There are so many inconsistencies with the planning decisions made by the council. The week that Lumcloon applied for permission for this project Westmeath County Council refused permission for a house that would have been located about 300 metres from the proposed new entrance. The reason the council refused permission is that the road is so busy that it would not be safe to have an additional dwelling on it but yet it is seemingly safe for a 52 acre industrial complex and all of the machinery that will be going in and out of it. It is the utter inconsistencies that would drive you mad.

“We can't believe that the council think that it is an appropriate location for such a development. For myself and our closest neighbour it's 50 metres from our boundary to the boundary of the development.”

Last month, Lumcloon's proposed development in Rochfortbridge was one of nine proposed gas fired stations to be given the green light by Eirgrid to generate electricity.

Days after the announcement of the Eirgrid auction results, Minister for the Environment Climate & Communications Eamon Ryan said that gas fired stations and battery storage facilities are “vital” if Ireland is to meet its renewable energy targets as they "can support the variable nature of renewable electricity production and ensure security of electricity supply as we phase out coal and oil for generation"

Mr Staunton says that the minister's comments were “inappropriate”.

“After the auction you had Eamon Ryan coming out and demanding that plants must now be built. It seems like a lot of political interference in decisions that were still at the planning stage.”

Mr Staunton says that the Rochfortbridge Power Plant Committee will be lodging an appeal to An Bord Pleanála.

“We always knew that it would go to An Bord Pleanála but we were hoping that Westmeath County Council would decide to turn it down and Lumcloon would be appealing it, but it's the other way around.

“We know the country does need these things built. We just don't think the location is suitable. There are power plants being phased out across the country, why not build these things on the existing infrastructure that is there and you have the connection to the grid? Not in greenfield sites.”

The Westmeath Examiner contacted Lumcloon for a comment but at the time of writing had not received one.

However, when the firm submitted its applications for its Rochfortbridge project last September, CEO Nigel Reams said that if it goes ahead, it " will provide reserve facilities to back up the national electricity grid"

"It is designed to assist with security and reliability of electricity supply and help to control upward pressure on prices to homeowners and businesses,” he said.

“The plant will further assist stability of the electricity grid during any expansion of additional offshore wind energy development, as new onshore facilities are less likely in future,” Lumcloon said.

WATCH: Last October the Westmeath Examiner visited Rochfortbridge to see why locals were opposed to the proposed development.