Opposition to plans for East Cork energy park’

EAST CORK residents have voiced their opposition to plans by Cork County Council to rezone almost 1,000 acres of land around Whitegate for “major, large-scale energy-related development,” turning the area into “Ireland’s energy park”.

In the draft Midleton Local Area Plan, published in November, the council said “the overall strategic aims for Whitegate/Aghada are to promote its role as a location for the storage and processing of strategic energy resources, consolidating its industrial and harbour-related roles.”

It said Whitegate had a “nationally important role in the energy sector, being the location of the country’s only oil refinery and also accommodating three power stations”. It pointed out that there were three areas in that region set aside for industrial development.

The first is a stretch of land east of the electricity generation station between Whitegate village and Upper Aghada. The plan states that part of this area will remain as open land and, while it is not suited to high density employment, the rest could be used for “smaller- scale opportunities for energy-related development”.

The second area is three sites close to or adjoining the oil refinery.

“It is envisaged that this area will be reserved to cater for any requirement that the oil refinery may have for the expansion of its activities,” the plan states.

It is the third section that is causing controversy. The plan identifies this 959-acre landbank east of the refinery as a “special policy area”.

“While there are no firm proposals at present, it is envisaged that this site will provide the strategic landbank required to facilitate the development of Whitegate as Ireland’s energy park, allowing for flexibility on the site format for large scale industry and safeguarding a sufficient area from inappropriate development that could undermine the viability of the site for energy storage or processing activities,” the plan states, adding that the area in question has potential for “major, large- scale energy-related development, including storage and processing activities”.

The public consultation process for the Midleton plan ended on Wednesday and among those who made submissions was local geologist Andrew Garne.

He pointed out that the land in question for the “special policy area” is underlain with two types of sandstone classified as “locally important aquifiers” which feed wells in the area for drinking water and agricultural uses. He said they would be highly vulnerable to contamination.

He also said the Seveso II Directive on the storage of potentially hazardous substances states that member states must ensure that their policies “maintain appropriate distances between establishments covered by the directive and residential areas ... so as not to increase the risks to people”.

A Cork County Council spokesman said it has made arrangements for a special council meeting to consider the submissions in May and the final plan must be adopted in July.