Kildare County Council has refused to grant planning permission for a new anaerobic digestion plant near Ballyvass, Castledermot.

The proposed development would take in manure, slurry, whole crops, and other organic materials to produce renewable biomethane.

The plant was one of four planned by international developer CycleØ in Kildare, Limerick, Galway, and Cavan.

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It would require 90,000 tonnes of agricultural manures, slurries, dairy processing residues, and crop-based feedstocks annually, which CycleØ stated would be sourced locally.

The project faced significant opposition from the local community, attracting over 200 objections and observations.

Refusal

The project was refused on three grounds. Kildare County Council argued that the plant is located on a local road which was substandard in terms of width and alignment. “The scale of traffic generated by the proposed development both at construction and operational stage would render the road unsuitable to carry the increased loads arising from the development” it said.

The second reason for refusal was in relation to the project’s proximity to the motorway network. The site is located within 91 metres of a motorway, which contravenes provisions in the Kildare County Development Plan.

These provisions are designed to safeguard the safety, capacity, and strategic function of national roads, including motorways and their junctions, the Council outlined. The Council concluded that allowing development within this restricted zone would undermine these protections and set a significant and undesirable precedent for similar projects along the motorway corridor.

Thirdly, the Council said that the application failed to adequately assess hydrological and water quality risks, or the potential cumulative impacts on the River Barrow and River Nore Special Area of Conservation and related wetlands.

The Council’s opinion was that the proposal did not comply with EU environmental directives and could not rule out significant adverse effects on protected European sites.