There is widespread concern in the Mayo Abbey area of county Mayo over a proposal by Cunlaghfadda Green Energy Ltd to develop a wind energy project with seven wind turbines, across the townlands of Cunlaghfadda, Cloonbaul, Knockaunakill, Harefield and Knockroe in the Mayo Abbey area.
A public meeting was organised by concerned residents in Mayo Abbey Community Centre on Thursday night last and attracted a large attendance.
Cunlaghfadda Green Energy is an Irish-owned and managed renewable energy company based in Munster.
Midwest News contacted the company for comment and we are awaiting a response.
Midwest News Editor Teresa O’Malley met some of the concerned local residents on Friday last in Knockaunkill, at the home of Karen Morley  and spoke to Karen, Olivia Gavin and local business man Peter Monaghan.
This proposed wind farm development is of real concern to many Mayo Abbey residents but has wider implications for many residents across county Mayo.
Under the Mayo County Development Plan’s Renewable Energy Strategy – large areas of Mayo are mapped out as areas where renewable energy/ wind farm developments can be accommodated and it includes a large section of the middle of the county, together with areas of north Mayo.
The Strategy generally excludes areas of west Mayo on the grounds of its potential impact on local tourism.
Large wind farm developments go directly to An Coimisiún Pleanála to seek planning permission, while smaller developments need planning permission from Mayo County Council to proceed.
Residents and businesses within a 2 km zone of Cunlaghfadda Green Energy project were first contacted by the company in March of this year and by the 25th of last month (May) the company had submitted its planning application to Mayo County Council for a proposed development of seven wind turbines, each 160m in height.
The turbines will require a substation to run the operation and planning permission for the substation will be sought from An Coimisiún Pleanála.
Residents are opposed to the development on a wide range of grounds –including environmental concerns, the visual impact on the landscape, noise and the effect on heritage tourism in the area.
I met Karen, Peter and Olivia at Karen’s extensively renovated new home a few kilometers outside Mayo Abbey   – and from her back door you can see miles of open green country side but this view is set to change significantly if the project gets the green light. Peter’s business Monaghan Brothers Hospitality Furniture is located diagonally across the road.
They had all attended the public meeting on the issue on Thursday night and are all keen to outline their objections to the planning application through submissions to Mayo County Council, to be submitted by next Tues, June 23rd.
Teresa began by asking Karen about local concerns about the proposed development…
Peter explained his concerns as a business man in the area…
Olivia is very interested in the local environment and biodiversity and has concerns on the potential impact of the development on heritage tourism in the area and on a number of local protected species
Olivia concluding that report, and before that Peter and Karen – and that’s just some of the concerns locally as renewable energy projects can be relatively quickly imposed on local communities – in fairness of course, there is a planning process in place and decisions on all the concerns will be before MCC shortly.
But the reality is  – while to date Mayo has met the national quota for renewable energy projects, the policy is to increase that quota and areas of central and north Mayo are mapped, according to the latest renewable energy strategy of MCC,  as potential areas of development.
