An appeal brought to the Supreme Court by local residents to a Waterford windfarm has been rejected, meaning the windfarm can continue to operate.
The case concerns a wind farm consisting of 11 wind turbines in Ballyduff, Co. Waterford, which are operated by Barranafaddock Sustainable Electricity Ltd.
The issues raised in the case was a claim by residents that the developers of the windfarm had obtained planning permission to construct turbines with blades of 90m in diameter but had constructed the turbine with blades of 103m in diameter.
Under Section 160 of the 2000 Planning and Development Act, the residents claimed this amounted to unlawful development and the windfarm should be shut down as a result.
The developers of the site claimed that they had permission from Waterford County Council to increase the size of the turbine blades
A five-judge Supreme Court dismissed the appeal of the residents and upheld the findings of the Court of Appeal.
In the court’s judgement, Mr. Justice Seamus Woulfe stated the case had raised the question of if the increase in the diameter of the turbine blade had been agreed with in writing with the county council.
The court dismissed the appeal as they were satisfied that the diameter increase had been agreed in writing with the relevant planning authorities.
They were also satisfied that the development was not able to be challenged under any European Union grounds under sections of the 2000 Planning and Development Act.