Major boost for €85 million power plant

A proposal for an €85 million power plant close to a national school near Shannon Airport received a major boost this week,

Clare County Councillors voted to zone an 80-acre site within a kilometre of Stonehall National School for “a large-scale green energy development”.
Parents and residents in the Stonehall, Shannon and Newmarket areas had voiced fierce opposition to plans to zone the land bank.
Despite a heated debate on an amendment that would see the site dezoned, councillors voted to adopt the Shannon Town and Environs Plan 2012-2018 at Tuesday’s council meeting. The local group that lobbied against the zoning now says questions remain about why the site at Stonehall was selected for this type of development.
Shannon area councillor Gerry Flynn proposed the amendment calling for the E3 Enterprise zoning to be removed from the site but this was defeated by 17 votes to 12. The debate on the motion sparked a furious exchange between Councillor PJ Kelly and senior council officials. Councillor Kelly enquired whether the council had been lured “into a trap” whereby it had a meeting with a potential investor and entered a contract to provide planning.
County manager Tom Coughlan vehemently denied the suggestions. He said council officials met with investors in Shannon but said “there are no commitments” and the council “does not compromise on planning”.
Ahead of Tuesday’s decision, parents of children attending Stonehall National School expressed concern that the zoning “opens the door for a number of other waste activities and this is certainly a scary prospect because of its close location to the school and the local community”.
Brian McInerney, chairman of the group formed to fight the proposed rezoning of the land for enterprise purposes, told The Clare Champion residents of Stonehall and surrounding areas are “disappointed” by the council’s decision. He also pointed out that zoning land for a purpose does not guarantee planning permission for specific projects and asserted that members of the group would be closely examining any applications made for proposed developments on the site.
“The initial reaction is one of disappointment. If you are involved in a campaign that is not successful, it is understandable that you would be disappointed. The decision is a democratic one and the lands are now zoned. We will be looking at any applications that are lodged for planning and hopefully we will be able to support those. If not, then there is a whole regime for dealing with observations and so forth in relation to planning applications,” Mr McInerney said.
According to Mr McInerney, the group will react to any proposals advanced for the site. He added that while members of the group had to accept the decision of Clare County Council, questions remained about why the Stonehall site was selected for zoning above lands in industrial estates.
“It was an exercise in local democracy and that is our system. I was at the meeting. It still hasn’t been explained why it is necessary to rezone this particular site, as opposed to other sites, even in the context of developing a large-scale project. It did emerge that there is a fairly large land bank in Smithstown. One councillor said he visited it and that it was full of weeds,” he stated.
Senior planner Gordon Daly said the site’s size and accessibility made it appropriate for zoning for a cluster of renewable energy enterprises. “What is being proposed is additional enterprise zoning that we believe is needed in Shannon over the lifetime of the local area plan and stands up on its own merits. It is not about where a particular project should or should not be located. There are existing zoned lands in the Freezone/Smithstown but not 80 acres in one block that would have such good access as the Enterprise E3 site. It also wouldn’t allow for a renewable energy cluster to develop its identity at its own location along the lines of a ‘carbon-free zone’ for Shannon,” he told the council meeting.
Mr McInerney said he agreed with a number of points made by Mr Daly during the meeting but he said, “It hasn’t been made clear to us that this particular piece of ground was necessary to facilitate any particular project or to facilitate any particular cluster. There were discussions at the meeting about the site in Smithstown, which has an adequate land bank and it wasn’t clear why that was not suitable. Questions remain unanswered but the senior planner accepted that there were legitimate concerns expressed and that those concerns could be addressed in the context of individual planning applications.
“If there are concerns on the part of individual residents, individual citizens or indeed representative groups, I think those concerns will be made quite clear in the context of any planning process and we will see then how the process unfolds,” Mr McInerney concluded.

Developers met council 15 months ago
Carol Byrne
CLARE County Council had contact with Carbon Sole Group and Industries Limited 15 months prior to lands at Stonehall being zoned to facilitate a large-scale green/renewable energy development, a local authority meeting has heard.
The issue emerged when Councillor PJ Kelly asked council officials when the proposed developers made contact with the planning authority and if the Dublin Airport Authority made any contact on the issue?
Addressing these issues, Gordon Daly, senior planner with Clare County Council informed the councillor, “The first contact we had with the developers was 15 months ago. That meeting was to do with enterprise and we do meet people on enterprise matters and advise them it has to go through the planning application process. There is nothing to hide in that.”
He added that the developers had made a submission to the plan. In relation to the DAA, he said they too made a submission, as they own lands in this area.
“Again, ye would be disappointed if we did not have a good relationship with bodies in Shannon and we do work with Shannon Development and the DAA and we have had meetings with them and they did make a submission to this,” he said.
Councillor Kelly asked the council official, “Did we walk into a trap here?” He enquired whether “the developer made an offer” and whether the council gave a positive response to lead them to believe it was possible?
County manager Tom Coughlan responded to this and asked the councillor, “Are you implying we had a meeting with an investor and that we entered a contract to provide planning?”
Mr Coughlan added that council officials have met with CEOs of many other companies and in such circumstances and in each case “without giving any commitment to planning”.
“We met to assist them locate in Shannon. We do meet investors in Shannon. There are no commitments. It is a meeting to explain they are interested in job creation and we help them every way we can. One thing we do not compromise on is planning. Zoning is a matter entirely for the members,” he said.
Councillor Kelly argued there was “a subtle difference” between working within a plan as it stands to help enterprise and working on what could be put into a plan.
He questioned whether a “If you do this, I can do that” scenario occurred and he said “I think we walked straight into it”.
Mr Coughlan vehemently rubbished such claims, stressing, “There was no ‘if I do this, I will do that’. I refute that. I will never do that.”
Meanwhile, Ger Dollard, director of service for planning, community, enterprise and economic development, highlighted to the members, “As of now, there is no development proposal before us but we are serious about attracting enterprise”.
Mr Daly concluded, “I see no conflict here. We are in the business of County Clare and as such we have many different roles.”

‘No need for zoning of greenfield site’
A LIVELY debate opened at Aras Contae an Chláir on Tuesday as Clare’s county councillors decided whether to accept or reject a proposed amendment calling for the removal of enterprise zoning on lands at Stonehall, Newmarket-on-Fergus.
The meeting was attended by up to 30 members of the public, made up of representatives of the lobby group opposed to the zoning, along with Stonehall National School principal, Diarmuid McMahon and chairperson of the lobby group, Brian McInerney.
Councillor Gerry Flynn, chairperson of the Shannon Electoral Area, opened the discussion, where he outlined that 12 members of the council had a proposed amendment to put to the council for its consideration.
“We have considered the manager’s report and we considered the submissions at length. As a local, I would have to say that it is not before time that we got our own Shannon Town and Environs Plan but I would argue it is 40 years too late. The Celtic Tiger has flown and we hope the Celtic Tiger will come back but we need a constructive balance. Shannon is a vibrant town and I would hope this plan will serve the community well,” he said.
He handed over to Councillor Pat McMahon, who highlighted the concerns members of the council had about the zoning and why they believed the zoning should be removed from the plan.
“Zoning of this nature would be more appropriate in the Shannon Free Zone. This is an ideal opportunity to develop the industrial estate. Also, we feel there is no need for the zoning of a greenfield site when regeneration of the Shannon Free Zone and Smithstown Industrial Estate is needed.
“Nobody I have met is against enterprise, it is just the wrong location. It affects more than the community of Stonehall. This development would be 43 metres high, twice as high as Aerospace. Three to four trucks per hour will feed this incinerator and there will be a constant humming noise,” Councillor McMahon stated.
He stressed the effects of this would be borne out among the locals who, he said, could end up “living in a nightmare situation”. He asked the officials why this development could not be facilitated in the industrial estate?
“No one can prove this development will be free of industrial waste. There is no 100% guarantee. I don’t want to be alarmist about it but these are issues that could arise,” he said.
Joining the debate, Councillor PJ Ryan outlined his reasons for opposing the zoning.
“There is adequate land zoned in Shannon to facilitate industry because this will have an impact on the residents, who seem to have been passed over. There has been very little attention paid to the people it will affect. We need to rethink it. The area was depopulated when 400 acres was bought up as part of the Aerospace development and now the community is trying to build up the area. I welcome jobs and industry in the area but this could be facilitated in Smithstown and the Shannon Free Zone,” said Councillor Ryan.
Councillor Tony Mulqueen also commented on his reasons for dezoning the lands, saying there is ample space in Smithstown Industrial Estate and the Shannon Free Zone where “there are plenty of empty factories”.
“There is enough land zoned to take a development,” he said.
Councillor Tom McNamara also echoed these remarks and asked, “if we turn down this as an enterprise site, is there an area it can be accommodated at?”
Councillor James Breen also said he is against the zoning. “I’d love to see development and I’d like to see us get jobs but not on top of the community of Stonehall. Could the manager withdraw this proposal and not split the council on a vote in this?” he said.
Councillor Pat Daly also said he is not “against jobs at Stonehall” but added “the last thing I want to see is a 43 metre building in the town. There are lands in Smithstown and the Shannon Free Zone and we should look at these.”
Councillor Tony Mulqueen urged the council to consider that “this could become a planning nightmare” and asked them to consider using the areas available before looking to develop on a greenfield site.

Following through on county plan objectives
JUST one councillor among the 17 public representatives who voted to retain the enterprise zoning, addressed Tuesday’s local authority meeting.
Councillor Sean McLoughlin stated firmly, “I am for this zoning. Many years ago we saw our grandkids leaving this country and if we don’t let the industry into Shannon then we are going back to those days.”
Senior planner with Clare County Council, Gordon Daly put forward his argument for the retention of the enterprise zoning of the land by addressing four questions.
“There are questions that need to be asked. They are why include this zoning in this plan, why zone it for enterprise, why put renewable energy zoning only and why not have preference for industry?” he said.
Addressing the inclusion of the zoning in the plan, he said the town and environs were looked at and a lot of constraints were identified in the town.
“It is like an island town. Any area for expansion is to the north and that’s why the focus is there,” he said.
Mr Daly outlined that the development plan set out the criteria for zoning of land for enterprise, which requires that there is good infrastructure, that it is not divorced from settlement, it is physically suitable, it is good land, there are no environmental constraints and that it is also relatively unpopulated.
He indicated that Stonehall ticked these boxes.
Addressing the issue of enterprise, he explained there were strong objectives set out for enterprise in the county development plan and stressed that such objectives “are not worth anything without providing for it in the local area plans”.
“There is a strong county development plan and if we don’t follow through, it’s just policy and ink on paper. In this case, I feel it is appropriate to zone more enterprise land in Shannon,” he said.
Speaking about why this particular zoning is for renewable enterprise, he said, “This land has some of the characteristics which suit renewable energy, it has excellent access into the town and I don’t think you pass a house going up to it. It is located very well to serve its customers and it allows for a clustering of other renewable industry”.
He claimed the zoning for renewable enterprise would “draw other businesses into Shannon because there is a green emphasis and the potential to be serviced by green energy”.
Mr Daly highlighted that as Clare is one of the most forested regions in the country, this industry could benefit by providing the raw materials of wood and wood pellets to renewable energy developments. “If we have a renewable energy cluster, the market will respond,” he said.
He said the argument for not having this zoning within the Shannon Free Zone came down to not having the land in one block to meet these specific conditions.
He said he accepted that the Shannon Free Zone and Smithstown Industrial Estate are in need of regeneration.
“Shannon has always been an innovator. The Shannon Free Zone could become the Shannon Carbon Free Zone if we create a renewable energy cluster,” Mr Daly said.
In summarising his argument, Mr Daly explained to the members that the county development plan sets out the policies and vision for the county and to the fore in Clare’s development plan is enterprise and renewable energy. He said the local area plan provides for this through zoning land and stressed that is where the councillors are at now.
Another leg of this is the planning application stage and he said much of the discussion regarding concerns voiced about the height and scale of proposed developments are for determining at the planning stage.
“Zoning does not mean a fait accompli in relation to the planning section, as we have seen in a very high-profile development recently. I recommend you keep the zoning and place your trust in the next tier – the planning process,” he concluded.