Group set up to oppose South Ros wind farm

A 20-strong committee of local people has been set up to oppose recently lodged plans for the €80 million Seven Hills Wind Farm development near Dysart. The Wind Turbine Action Group South Roscommon (WTAGSR) held an informal meeting on Sunday last to set up the group, attended by large numbers of local people who heard about the event and wanted to know more about the 16 wind turbine development earmarked for the townlands of Turrock, Cronin, Mullaghardagh, Gortaphuill, Tullyneeny and Glenrevagh, within a few miles of Dysart village. The newly-formed committee will now hold a public meeting on Monday next, November 1 in Dysart Community Centre to kick-start their campaign of opposition. The meeting is to provide a forum for local people on how to pursue an objection to it, with many at the first meeting expressing concerns that it is being rail-roaded through. The group now has three weeks to lodge an objection to Roscommon County Council in relation to the controversial proposals. A spokesperson for the The Wind Turbine Action Group South Roscommon told the Westmeath Independent that the meeting and the group are not against the landowners who are facilitating the project, moreover the location of the wind turbines. “I believe what is proposed is wholly inappropriate for a community of this type in terms of industrial scale and quantity,” he said. “We need people to think long-term effects rather than short term.”