21km Laois Offaly powerline upgrade gets green light

EirGrid had been granted planning permission to upgrade over 21 kilometres of overhead powerline crossing the Laois Offaly border. 

An Bord Pleanala approved the development which included the upgrading of 112 structures carrying 110KV overhead powerline(OHL) covering 21.6km from Portlaoise to Portarlington. 

EirGrid plans to restring the overhead line with higher capacity cables and install a new fibre cable. A total of 46 wooden poles and four steel masts are to be replaced.  

The line runs primarily through Laois across the townlands in Bracklone, Lea, Tirhogar, Rathmiles, Rathleash, Garryvacum, Ballybrittas, Emo Park, Cappakeel, Morett, Greath Heath, Ballydavis, Rathbrennan, Ballyclider, Ballymooney, Summerhill or Aghnaharna, Downs, Borris Little, Kylekiproe and Clonminam, with Laois accounting for 20km of the 21.6km route.

Solus Developments Limited had appealed Laois County Council’s decision to grant permission for the project. 

According to the ABP Inspector: “The appeal site follows the line of an existing 110kV overhead line (twin timber poles with steel lattice angletowers) which runs south from an angletower section northeast of Portarlington (this initial section is within County Offaly and is not part of the application), where it crosses the River Barrow and a dry section of the Mountmellick branch of the Grand Canal, crossing farmland and a golf course in open countryside for around 8km, before it turns in a south-westerly direction when it meets the R445 and M7 motorway for around 7 km.

At the eastern outskirts of Portlaoise it turns west at an angletower, running for another kilometre over the southern extended suburbs of Portlaoise before entering a substation within a commercial area within the town.

The OHL runs through generally low lying countryside with a mix of intensive agriculture, regenerating boglands, some heath and conifer plantations, in addition to a golf course and urban edge developments. For approximately one third of its route, it follows the alignment of the M7 motorway.” 

The grounds of the appeal by Solus related to the choice to not underground part of the line in Portlaoise. The line is owned by ESB Networks, but the application is by EirGrid, ABP said.

They noted Solus’s submission stating that “there is an existing agreement over undergrounding the line as part of the Portlaoise Southern Circular Road extension(PSCRE).”

“It is submitted that when the PSCRE was constructed, ducting was provided by the Council for the express purpose of undergrounding the overhead electricity line,” ABP noted.

However, EirGrid said that while the council may have installed ducting, the work was done without the knowledge of either  ESB Networks or EirGrid. It was claimed the Council were unable to provide clarity.

“It is argued that the line is not unsightly or otherwise incongruous within the area as it has long been part of the overall visual environment of the area and forms an important element of the local electricity infrastructure,” the ABP Inspector noted.

Despite the objection, ABP agreed to approve the plan subject to four conditions.