By Iveren McCallion
Permanent Secretary for Infrastructure, Peter May, has announced his Opinion to Refuse a solar power station in County Antrim.
160 acres of open farmland was earmarked for the development in rural Kells, and would have spanned 1.2 miles.
The plan was to industrialise the land, which would impact on more than 60 homes and cross three roads.
Mr May refused to back the plan due to:
- Unacceptable adverse impact on the visual amenity and landscape character of this rural area by reason of siting and scale
- Unacceptable adverse impact on the residential amenity of noise nuisance
- Unacceptable adverse impact on the safety and convenience of road users.the visual impact on the landscape, safety and convenience of road users and the noise nuisance.
Around 120 residents objected to the planning application.
The councils involved, Mid and East Antrim borough and Antrim and Newtownabbey councils now have 27 days to appeal the Department of Infrastructure decision.
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