Planning permission for an agricultural shed to house a milking parlour in Co Donegal has been refused by An Coimisiún Pleanála following an appeal by An Taisce.

Donegal County Council had granted conditional planning permission last August for the proposed development at Moneymore, Newtowncunningham, near Lifford.

However, the decision was then overturned by An Coimisiún Pleanála after An Taisce challenged the approval.

The proposed building, which would extend existing farm sheds, was designed to have a maximum length of 36.8 metres, a width of 30.5 metres and a height of seven metres. The agricultural shed would also have had a stated floor area of 816 square metres, alongside associated site works.

Donegal County Council

According to Donegal County Council it had considered the planning application acceptable, given the existence of the farm and its associated buildings.

In a planner's report to submitted to the council it was considered "that the proposed development would be in accordance with the proper planning and sustainable development of the area".

The local authority's planner also considered the proposal acceptable in terms of access, its impact on established residential amenities and natural heritage.

Planners had detailed that screening for Appropriate Assessment was deemed unnecessary by the council, given the scale and nature of the proposed development.

They also believed that an Environmental Impact Assessment Report was not required, citing the development's minor nature and scale, its location away from sensitive locations or features, and that "the development would not be likely to have any significant effect on the Natura 2000 sites".

An Taisce

However in its appeal, An Taisce said the planning application "did not provide any screening for Appropriate Assessment".

A key issue in its appeal was around water quality and the potential impact of the proposed development on Lough Swilly Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and Lough Swilly Special Protection Area (SPA).

An Taisce also highlighted that the planning application had detailed that a watercourse discharge location used by the farmer was a tributary of the Drumbarnet Stream, which was adjacent to a public road.

It argued that "significant adverse effects cannot be ruled out".

An Coimisiún Pleanála

In its decision, An Coimisiún Pleanála stated that, based on the information provided with the application and appeal, and in the absence of a Natura Impact Statement, it could not be satisfied that the development, either individually or in combination with other plans or projects, "would not result in adverse effects on the integrity of the Lough Swilly Special Area of Conservation and the Lough Swilly Special Protection Area".

The Commission also decided that significant effects on water quality could not be ruled out.

An inspector had recommended that planning permission be refused on these grounds, alongside concerns that a building or structure of considerable size and scale to the south of the main agricultural block did not appear to have the benefit of planning permission and was therefore unauthorised.

The Commission's decision also focused on whether the potential effects on the protected Lough Swilly sites, particularly in relation to water quality, could be satisfactorily ruled out.

Slurry controls

The permission granted by Donegal County Council had included a series of conditions governing the handling of slurry, effluent and surface water.

These required adequate effluent storage facilities to be provided in accordance with relevant departmental requirements, with measures in place to prevent water pollution.

Slurry generated by the proposed development was to be spread on land, or disposed of by another method accepted in writing by the planning authority, in accordance with the European Union (Good Agricultural Practice for Protection of Waters) Regulations 2022.

The conditions also required all foul effluent and slurry from the development and farmyard to be channelled into appropriate storage facilities, with no discharge permitted into streams, rivers, watercourses or onto the public road.

Clean roof water and uncontaminated yard water were to be collected separately and discharged through a sealed system to existing drains or adequate soakpits.

A further condition prohibited surface water from the site discharging onto the public road and required measures to prevent water from the road draining onto the site.

Despite these proposed safeguards, the Commission concluded that the available information was insufficient to rule out adverse effects on the integrity of protected sites.

An Coimisiún Pleanála decided to refuse permission, generally in accordance with the inspector's recommendation.