Majority of submissions against Westmeath data centre plan
The impact on traffic, water supplies, and biodiversity were among the issues raised in submissions on what is anticipated to be one of the most expensive private developments ever proposed for the midlands.
A company owned by an Offaly businessman is behind the plans a €1 billion data centre campus and solar farm on a 600-acre site in Westmeath.
Red Admiral DC Ltd is owned by Offaly businessman Nigel Reams, and forms part of his Lumcloon Energy Group.
See Red Admiral's statement here
Red Admiral DC’s application to Westmeath County Council to build a large data centre, together with a massive solar farm, on a 600-acre (243ha) site between Tyrrellspass and Rochfortbridge will be decided in the coming fortnight.
The deadline for submissions to the local authority planners closed last Monday, August 11. At that time there were more than 40 submissions from individuals, clubs and groups in the area on the proposed project.
Though the majority were objections to the proposal, one local organisation made a submission supporting the project.
The objectors raised a range of concerns including the impact on the local road traffic network, how it would have a negative impact on water supplies in the area, and the overall consequences for biodiversity.
A submission for the Rochfortbridge Game Club suggested the "unprecedented scale" of the planned data centre would cause "irreversible ecological damage".
In a submission supporting the project, St Brigid’s Hurling club formally supported the planning, saying it would "provide employment" and go towards "keeping rural Ireland vibrant and alive".
On July 8 last, Red Admiral DC Ltd lodged the plans with Westmeath County Council for the six unit data centre and a decentralised energy resource.
The project is being developed in partnership with SK Ecoplant, a Korean engineering company that announced its collaboration with Lumcloon to supply power to the data centre in 2023 from solid-oxide fuel cells, which generate electricity from natural gas.
The scheme also includes a solar farm on 166 hectares (410 acres) of the overall site, which will lie east of the data centre campus.
The application to Westmeath County Council follows an An Coimisiún Pleanála (ACP) in May ruling that the proposed development is not a Strategic Infrastructure Development (SID).
The planned data centre campus is within a 96-acre site in the townlands of Kiltotan, Collinstown, Oldtown and Farthingstown, County Westmeath. At present, those lands are not in the ownership of Red Admiral, but are owned by a number of local people, as well as by Hanney Properties, which is owned by Nigel Reams, CEO of Lumcloon Energy Ltd; Westmeath County Council and Castlelost Flex Gen.
The local landowners, who have consented to their lands being included in the application, are Liam and Sheila Gavin; Michael Peppard, John Peppard, Anne Peppard, Patrick Gavin, Barry Morgan and Orla Gallagher, Michael Fallon, Kieran Fallon, John Flynn and Bryan Fallon.
The local authority planners have indicated that a decision should be reached by September 1.