Coolmore fails to get plan changed

SOUTH TIPPERARY County Council has agreed to allow its draft development plan go out for public consultation without any amendments.

This is despite intensive lobbying by Coolmore Stud to include an amendment which would prevent factories setting up near its stud farm.

Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour Party whips agreed yesterday that the council would allow the draft 2009-2015 development plan go out for public consultation and no motions were proposed to make any amendments.

From April 21st, members of the public will have 10 weeks in which to make submissions on the plan which will then be considered by planning officials at South Tipperary County Council.

County manager Ned O'Connor told councillors at yesterday's meeting in Clonmel that he was satisfied that all members of the council had acted with "commendable propriety" in relation to the draft development plan.

Mr O'Connor had met with a number of councillors last week when they sought his advice on making an amendment to the plan and he had advised them that it would not be legally possible to do so at this stage.

Local politicians had been invited to a meeting at Coolmore Stud near Fethard last week where they were lobbied to seek an amendment to the plan which would have prohibited "electricity transmission lines" near equestrian facilities.

The amendment would also have prohibited a number of other industries including waste disposal facilities, water treatment plants, chemical works or "other incompatible" development that might have "a detrimental effect" on the rearing of thoroughbred horses.

Coolmore Stud, which is owned by John Magnier, has strongly opposed plans by Green Organics Energy to build a bio-energy plant at the site of a former rendering factory at Castleblake in Rosegreen near the internationally known stud farm.

Yesterday on RTÉ's Morning Ireland , Green Organics Energy's Paul Barrett said he believed the proposed amendment was directed at his company's interest and he expressed concern that Coolmore had obtained access to the draft development plan before it was in the public arena.

Mr Barrett said he was pleased to learn that the amendment would not be put to a vote at the council but said he believed it was an attempt by Coolmore "to thwart the ongoing planning process" in relation to the proposal to build a green energy plant at Castleblake.

However, a Coolmore Stud spokeswoman told The Irish Times there were a number of stages to the consultation process and Coolmore Stud had been very open about meeting councillors and making its views known to them about the importance of the equine industry to the area.

At a Bord Pleanála hearing earlier this year Green Organics Energy said the €100 million plant would be "safe, efficient, clean and green" and was essential to enable the Irish meat-processing industry to dispose of animal by-products.

The company said it would process the organic waste using a system known as anaerobic digestion to break down the waste into "biogas" which would then be used to create "green" electricity for the national grid, and to make biodiesel fuel for cars.

Green Organics Energy was refused planning permission last year by the county council and appealed the decision to An Bord Pleanála.

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times