“One Project – One Public Notice”
The High Court clarifies that Environmental Impact Assessment publicity must cover wind-farm grid connections
Commentary on North Westmeath Turbine Action Group & NWMTAG CLG v. An Bord Pleanála and Sweetman v. An Bord Pleanála ([2025] IEHC 367)

1. Introduction

The joined cases concerned An Bord Pleanála’s 2019 decision to grant permission for a 13-turbine wind-farm at Coole, Co. Westmeath. Two distinct applicants challenged that decision: (i) Peter Sweetman – long-standing environmental litigant – and (ii) the North Westmeath Turbine Action Group (“NWMTAG”) and its CLG vehicle. Both advanced a wide matrix of grounds embracing Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Habitats Appropriate Assessment (AA), national planning law, conditions, property devaluation, peat stability and more. Justice Michael Quinn (Commercial list) delivered a 370-page judgment systematically disposing of each argument.

• Sweetman’s application failed completely.
• NWMTAG succeeded on one ground only – inadequate public notice of the EIA because it omitted any reference to the 26-km underground grid-connection, notwithstanding that the Board had (correctly) assessed that connection as an integral part of the “single project” under O’Grianna.

The failure vitiated the entire EIA process; consequently the Court quashed the Board’s permission notwithstanding its otherwise impeccable assessment.

2. Summary of the Judgment

• Justice Quinn reaffirmed the O’Grianna “integrated project” rule: a wind-farm and its grid-connection are legally indivisible for EIA purposes.
• Because EIA is a process (Art. 1(2)(g) EIA Directive), every step – including Article 6(2) public information – must extend to the whole project.
• The site/newspaper notices listed eight townlands covering turbines, borrow-pit, access roads and junction works but omitted the 21 additional townlands crossed by the indicative grid-connection. Members of the public therefore had no reason to know that EIA of that element was underway.
• This was not a question of imperfect detail but a “stark omission” that went to jurisdiction. The Board “had no power to grant permission”.
• All other 40-plus grounds (bats, birds, peat stability, conditions, property values, noise, shadow-flicker, Wind-Energy Guidelines, Greenwire “project splitting” etc.) were rejected.

3. Analysis

3.1 Precedents Cited or Distinguished

• O’Grianna v. An Bord Pleanála (2014/15) – foundation for the “single project – grid connection” doctrine.
• ESB v. Gormley (1985) – adequacy of public notices; need to name all affected townlands.
• Alen-Buckley (2017) – separate planning application permissible if integrated EIA done; contrasted on publicity facts.
• Balz (2019) – treatment of outdated Wind Energy Development Guidelines (“WEDG 2006”); distinguished on basis that Board did consider criticisms here.
• Classic Irish “conditions” cases – Boland, Houlihan, People Over Wind, Sliabh Luachra – upheld validity of leaving technical details to later agreement.
• Cleary Compost & Murphy – unauthorised existing uses; applied to dismiss peat-extraction “engraftment” argument.
• An Taisce v. ABP (2020, SC) – public participation; relied on to reject contention that post-permission agreements breach Aarhus.

3.2 The Court’s Legal Reasoning

1. Public Notice & EIA Process
   Article 6(2) requires early, effective public information “of the project”. Using the domestic planning notice regime is acceptable (Art. 2(2) integration), but the notice must mirror the scope of the EIA. Here, by spelling out every off-site borrow-pit and junction but not the 26 km connection, the notice mis-represented what was under assessment. No amount of file-inspection cures the defect because an ordinary reader would lack reason to inspect. Applying Gormley, each townland should have been listed.
2. Grid-Connection Design Still Unfixed? — Not fatal to assessment.
   Following Keane, Alen-Buckley and Ratheniska, indicative routes can be assessed once sufficient information on corridor, trenching methods and environmental receptors is provided. The Inspector was satisfied on the evidence; Court will not second-guess (O’Keeffe irrationality threshold).
3. Conditions & “delegation”
   Citing long standing jurisprudence, Quinn J. upheld “conditions subsequent” (noise, shadow-flicker, CEMP, drainage, haul-routes, securities) as permissible matters of technical detail subject to s 34(5) agreements – distinct from the leave-stage participation problem in An Taisce.
4. Out-of-date Guidelines?
   WEDG 2006 remain s 28 guidelines until formally replaced. Inspector considered criticisms (unlike in Balz) and also relied on more recent scientific and international material; no error.
5. Peat Extraction “Unauthorised Structures” argument
   Commercial peat works were by third parties; wind-farm was independent and not an “extension” thereof (distinguishing Cleary Compost). Section 34(13) means permission does not regularise peat operations; enforcement is for local authority.

3.3 Potential Impact of the Decision

• Wind-farm developers must reference grid connections in EIA notices. Expect to see comprehensive townland lists (or maps) in future adverts and site notices.
• Planning authorities/ABP must verify that public notices align with any “single project” approach adopted post-O’Grianna. Failure is a jurisdictional error incapable of cure by later information.
• Strategic Infrastructure: promoters of multi-phase projects may manage risk by issuing umbrella notices or splitting applications but still describing every phase for EIA publicity.
• Conditions jurisprudence strengthened: Court re-affirmed that leaving detailed CEMP, drainage, traffic or shadow-flicker protocols to local-authority agreement is legitimate once bound by prior mitigation commitments.
• No expansion of “unauthorised development” bar: mere coexistence with, or practical use of, earlier peatland works did not prevent permission. Focus is on functional independence and enforcement jurisdiction.

4. Complex Concepts Simplified

• EIA Process – A five-step legal procedure: developer’s EIAR → public/statutory consultation → authority’s examination → reasoned conclusion → integration into decision. Break any step and the consent collapses.
• Project-Splitting – Attempting to assess parts of a scheme separately to avoid cumulative scrutiny. O’Grianna says a wind-farm without its cable is useless, so both parts must be treated as one project.
• Public Notice – Not a formality; it activates public participation. Must enable an ordinary resident to recognise that their locality could be affected.
• Appropriate Assessment (AA) – A stricter, “no reasonable scientific doubt” test focused on European (Natura 2000) sites. Here the AA challenges (bats, birds, SPAs) all failed.
• “Conditions Subsequent” – Planning permission may oblige a developer to submit later method statements etc. Valid if: (a) governed by earlier mitigation commitments; (b) technical detail; and (c) approval rests with the authority, not merely the developer.

5. Conclusion

North Westmeath Turbine Action Group establishes a clear, practical precedent: once a planning file (and the Board) choose – correctly – to treat a wind-farm and its grid connection as a single EIA project, the public notice must mirror that scope. Absence of such notice is a fatal jurisdictional flaw even where, as here, the environmental studies, mitigation suites and conditions were otherwise exemplary.

For practitioners the take-aways are stark:

• Scrutinise draft notices against the totality of what the EIAR will assess.
• When in doubt, over-describe auxiliary works and list every townland.
• Maintain flexibility for turbine specification through conditions, but anchor them in detailed EIAR mitigation.

The decision will likely prompt a wave of revised advertisement practice, but also gives comfort that Irish courts remain slow to disturb technical planning judgments unless a “process” flaw – such as inadequate publicity – strikes at the heart of EU-mandated assessment.