Planning rejected for €200m wind farm that divided village

An Bord Pleanála has refused planning permission for a €200m wind farm on Clare’s Atlantic coast that divided families in the village of Doonbeg.

At the end of a two-year planning battle, the appeals board threw out West Coastal Windpower Ltd’s 45-turbine plan on a number of grounds. Opponents found an unlikely ally in their opposition: The critically-endangered freshwater pearl mussel.

However, the board’s decision to refuse planning to the 400ft turbines — more than twice the height of Dublin’s Liberty Hall — also means 79 landowners in the area will miss out on a significant, but unspecified, dividend through proposed land-lease deals.