Meenbog Wind Farm developer takes appeal to An Bord Pleanála

A decision to refuse planning permission for works linked to the Meenbog Wind Farm has been appealed to An Bord Pleanála.

Mid Cork Electrical Ltd have appealed a decision of Donegal County Council, who denied permission for the construction of three new culverts to replace existing culverts along the N15 at Tawnawully Mountain.

The proposed culverts are designed to connect the Meenbog Wind Farm to the national grid.

While the local authority has ruled that the works cannot go ahead, An Bord Pleanála will now look at the plans. An Bord Pleanála say that a decision is expected before the end of May, 2025.

In its decision, the Council said: “Having regard to the rationale for the proposed works that is to facilitate a grid connection from Meenbog Wind Farm and to the current unauthorised nature of this large development that is the subject of ongoing legal proceedings, the Planning Authority considers that to permit the proposed development would be premature and contrary to proper and sustainable planning.

In 2020, a major peat slide occurred at the Meenbog Wind Farm, causing thousands of tonnes of peat and conifers to career down into the Mournebeg river and the Shruhangarve burn

In April 2024, a High Court order was made by Mr Justice David Holland prohibiting further development at the Meenbog Wind Farm.

Mr Justice Holland held that unauthorised development at the site consists of the entire wind farm and not each of or all of 25 material deviations.

The Judge found that he had jurisdiction to restrain any further works on the site – at least until the planning status is regularised.

Court documents, seen by Donegal Live, estimate that “about 86,240m3 of peat slid – of which about 65,740m3 left the 'scar areas' and entered the Shruhangarve Stream via which it flowed into the Mourne Beg River and on to nearby European Sites, including in Northern Ireland, causing significant environmental damage”.

In December, the Court of Appeal ruled that the planning deviations meant that the whole development was “unauthorised”. The Court of Appeal also upheld the order stopping further works at the site.

In the Court of Appeal judgment, Ms Justice Nuala Butler said Planree and Mid-Cork Electrical had come to accept there were “multiple deviations” from their planning permission for the site.

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The November 2020 slide was preceded by two other slides in June 2020.

A quantity of turbines and rotors intended for installation at Meenbog remain in storage near Killybegs.