Peter Sweetman wins challenge to Longford wind farm permission

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Peter Sweetman won his judicial review challenge at the High Court, which quashed An Bord Pleanála’s wind farm planning permission, in a judgment reported on 16 June 2021. The proposed development was at Mountdillon Peat Production Bog near Lanesborough, Co Longford.

The judge found that the application did not give enough detail for the planning authority to grant permission. The turbine heights and blade lengths were stated as maximum dimensions rather than actual proposed measurements, leaving key design details open for a later stage.

The court rejected the board’s argument that assessing the development on a worst-case basis was sufficient. It also dismissed other grounds of the challenge, including arguments about irrelevant considerations and constitutionality, which the judge said had not been established.