Planning permission granted for North-South Interconnector

Despite the many objections to the project lodged with An Bord Pleanála (ABP) during its public consultation process in 2015, and concerns raised by farmers during the oral hearings in 2016, the planning body has given the go-ahead to EirGrid, the body responsible for Ireland's electricity network, for the southern element of the North-South Interconnector.

A limited number of conditions have been attached to the permission, but these are not substantial, and do not change the prevailing structure of the project, which proposes to upgrade Ireland’s electricity network by adding a controversial 400kV overhead line to Ireland's grid, connecting the electricity grids of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The line would run through counties Monaghan, Cavan and Meath in the Republic, and Armagh and Tyrone in Northern Ireland.

One of the conditions of relevance to farmers is that which requires EirGrid to appoint an agricultural liaison officer who will communicate with landowners prior to and during the construction phase of the project. However, this does not place any fresh demands on EirGrid as agricultural liaison officers are already in place in affected areas of the country.

Huge opposition

Plans to build the interconnector have met with huge opposition and were delayed for some time, with local people even setting up the group North East Pylon Pressure Campaign (NEPPC).

It is a deplorable decision and an affront to the democratic process

In 2015, a 10-week period of statutory public consultation took place in respect of the planning application for the North-South Interconnector and, according to ABP, in the region of 1,500 objections were lodged with the planning body in this period. Oral hearings on the project took place earlier this year with farmers expressing concerns that the pylons will destroy hedgerows, forestry and valuable topsoil.

"Deplorable decision"

In a statement, NEPPC said ABP's decision to approve the interconnector is "deplorable". EirGrid, however, welcomed the announcement.

"It is a deplorable decision and an affront to the democratic process," said the NEPPC. "Landowners and local communities are disgusted with how they have been treated for the last 10 years. If ABP think that there will be no repercussions in terms of integrity of the planning process from this decision then they are gravely mistaken," the statement continued.

Next steps

Although An Bord Pleanála has granted planning permission for the interconnector in the south, the project still has a few hurdles to cross.

As a cross-border project it needs Project of Common Interest (PCI) approval by a separate designated section of An Bord Pleanála in the south. Successful PCI designation will result in a more efficient permit granting process for this project. A decision is not expected on this until the new year.

In the North, the project has applied for planning permission to System Operator of Northern Ireland (SONI), which EirGrid owns, but a public inquiry to hear both sides of the case will not take place until the end of February 2017. Therefore, a decision on planning permission for the northern element of the project is not expected until the end of 2017. If the project clears these hurdles, building is expected to take at least two years, meaning the project will not be up and running before 2020.

FOI

Figures released exclusively to the Irish Farmers Journal earlier this year under a Freedom of Information request revealed that €33.6m of electricity bill payers' money has been spent on the southern element of the North-South Interconnector to date.

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