An Bord Pleanala has turned down an application to build a wind farm at Cluddaun in north Co Mayo. Coillte had sought permission for a wind farm in a number the area’s townlands, and would have included 48 wind turbines, two permanent and four temporary masts, an electrical sub-station, a permanent sewerage treatment system, access tracks and other developments. Planning permission was refused on a number of grounds: An Bord Pleanala referred to the scale of the development, the sensitive nature of the location in an area of extensive commercial forestry near a number of designated and protected habitats, and the distance of the lands from public roads. In relation to a second wind farm proposal to be located adjacent to the Cluddaun site – an ESB/Bord na Mona 112-turbine plan at Oweninny near Bellacorick, Co Mayo – the Board requested further information, including a revised environmental impact statement. If they had received the green light, the two wind farms would together have accounted for the country's largest onshore wind farm. ESB and Bord Na Mona have until late September to respond in regard to the Bellacorick proposal and a decision is not expected until at least November.