11.5.3 Development Management Guidance
While we welcome and concur with the content and many of the policies and objectives outlined in Chapter 11, which support renewables projects in County Kilkenny we are concerned that the draft plan relies on the requirements of the Revised Draft Wind Energy Development Guidelines (2019) which have not yet been adopted. When these Guidelines were published in draft form for public consultation in 2019, the Wind Industry raised serious concerns about some elements of these guidelines. An updated version has not yet been published. It is our view that the finalised County Development Plan should not directly lean on the detail of these draft Guidelines until such time as they are formally adopted. Therefore, we would respectfully suggest that the finalised plan includes the following wording:
“All planning applications for wind energy developments shall be assessed against the DEHLG’s publication Wind Energy Development Guidelines, 2006, (and any subsequent update of these guidelines) and the County Council’s Wind Strategy.”