An objector to a proposed new hanger for private jets at Kerry Airport has raised concerns about the potential impact on farm animals.
Kerry Airport is currently seeking planning permission from Kerry County Council for a new steel framed aircraft hanger with a private arrivals and departure area.
The proposed 1,877m2 development at Gortshanavogh, Farranfore will include a covered vehicle entrance, reception and waiting area, security check and car parking.
The hangar will have the capacity to house one large plane or several smaller aircraft.
Kerry Airport
The airport said this development would help the facility to “release its potential as a strategically important international gateway serving the wider southwest region of Ireland”.
It added that the proposed development is necessary to meet “the foreseeable need for aviation travel” and “to provide for the safe expansion of air traffic” at the facility.
Kerry Airport said the development would not present an unacceptable risk of water or air pollution, would not be prejudicial to public health due to noise impacts and would be in accordance with the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.
The planning application noted that there will be a “considerable number” of long term jobs created through the new facility at the airport.
Concerns
However, Tony Lowes, director of Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE) is among several objectors to the plans.
“This development application is to facilitate private jet usage at Kerry Airport at a time when there is a climate emergency and specifically a worldwide movement to ban the use of this unnecessary polluting form of transport,” he said.
Lowes claimed that the proposed application undermines the Kerry County Development Plan 2022 – 2028 as it “will contribute to the growing failure of Ireland to meet its legally required greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets”.
FIE said that it has been contacted by “concerned individuals within the community” who feel activities at Kerry Airport have been “increasingly encroaching upon their daily lives, manifesting as heightened levels of air, noise, and light disturbances”.
“According to these concerned residents, the presence of private jets departing from Kerry Airport has already led to a knock-on increase in low-flying helicopter traffic, which further disrupts the peace and tranquility of the area, causing distress among residents and farm animals alike,” Lowes said.
The residents also pointed to the “additional emissions” already being generated by private jets.
Objections to the plans have also been lodged by local residents, environmentalist Peter Sweetman and Green Party local election candidates.
Kerry County Council planners are due to decide on the application by December 14.