Limavady: Approval for solar farm offering 'significant economic and environmental benefits'
Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council’s Planning Committee has approved a solar farm in Limavady.
The application, which was before April’s Planning Committee, sought permission for a solar farm and associa ted infrastructure, including ground mounted solar PV panels on support frames, inverters/transformer cabins, substation, fencing, CCTV cameras, and a temporary construction compound, on lands east of 16 Ballyleagry Road, north Of 23 Ballyleagry Road and west of 122 Edenmore Road.
Council’s Development Management and Enforcement manager, Shane Mathers, said the site is located in the open countryside, outside the settlement development limit of Limavady, and as the Northern Area Plan 2016 is silent on the matter of solar farm development, regional policies apply.
“The closest dwellings to the proposal are located at Ballylegary Road, a noise assessment was submitted and the Environmental Health Department are content,” Mr Mathers noted.
“A landscape and visual impact assessment was presented and the impact on affected properties is moderate and not unacceptable.”
The site is not located in any sensitive landscapes and is outside the Binevenagh Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and landscape features such as trees and hedges are to be retained.
Mr Mathers added: “This 29.9-megawatt proposal offers significant economic and environmental benefits. These include a contribution towards meeting the 80 percent renewable energy by 2030 target set by the Climate Change NI Act 2022.”
A spokesperson for the applicant confirmed that annually the farm would provide electricity for 9,510 homes and lead to a reduction of over 12,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.
Members voted unanimously in support of the application.
Andrew Balfour, Local Democracy Reporter