A public meeting will take place tonight (Thursday) at 7.30 pm in Spells Bar, Ballaghaderreen to discuss the proposed battery storage facility planned for the town.
Roscommon County Council has recently granted planning permission for the facility to be located at Tonroe, Ballaghaderreen, which is close to the Kilcolman housing estate. Some residents of the estate have expressed deep concerns regarding the safety of such a facility.
The County Council has granted permission for ten battery storage containers and 20 coolers to be located at the site. An Bord Pleanála has confirmed that the deadline for an appeal against the development has passed.
Local Sinn Féin Councillor Michael Mulligan said local residents in the area are angry.
“Residents from the area put in a submission (objecting to planning) and in the submission was that it was toxic and a fire hazard, and of course the devaluation of property. It was a good, detailed submission but it was turned down. In the same month (last July) Longford County Council refused planning for a similar facility on the same grounds.
“It’s too near houses; it’s beside a very big housing estate, and there’s only one way in and out and the roads wouldn’t be the best, if anything was to ever happen,” he said.
