Letter to the Editor: Concern over turbine plans

Dear Editor,Several weeks ago, I wrote a letter to the Larne Times to express my concern about a wind turbine located on top of Glenarm Head.
By The Newsroom
Published 17th Aug 2016, 15:50 BST
Updated 17th Aug 2016, 16:55 BST
Wind turbine at Glenarm Head (file photo). INLT 27-006-PSBWind turbine at Glenarm Head (file photo). INLT 27-006-PSB
Wind turbine at Glenarm Head (file photo). INLT 27-006-PSB

Since then, I have been made aware of another significant proposal to build 15 massive wind turbines on the Star Bog and Rory’s Glen district between Killyglen and Agnew’s Hill.

If approved by the planners, these turbines will stand an incredible 100 metres high and will be visible for many miles in every direction. The visual impact on this largely unspoilt upland landscape would be overwhelming.

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The proposed site is located within the Antrim Coast and Glens Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is bounded by the Ulster Way.

A designated Nature Conservation Site, the Star Bog is one of the fast disappearing ancient bogs of Ireland and is the habitat of several species of endangered Moorland birds.

In addition to this, the provision of infrastructure to support this wind farm would be a very significant undertaking, involving widening, strengthening and extending the existing country roads to access the site and support the weight of massive diggers, shovels and cranes, and lorries necessary for a project of this magnitude.

I am all for sustainable, renewable energy including wind farms but I am a bit concerned that the restraints controlling where they can be built have been abandoned.

- Alan McMurtry

Coast Road, Ballygally