Fintona poultry litter lagoon refused planning permission

THE PLANNING Appeals Commission (PAC) has once again dismissed an appeal against the refusal of full planning permission for a poultry litter storage lagoon in the Fintona area.

A decision on the appeal was initially issued more than a year ago. But, after an application for a Judicial Review, that decision was quashed by the High Court and returned to the PAC for a fresh determination.

Commissioner Many Jones said the appellant’s team stated that to their knowledge, there are no other poultry litter lagoons within Northern Ireland or the UK. She said Fermanagh and Omagh District Council (FODC) had told her that a multi-million large anaerobic digester in Antrim had been approved to deal with poultry litter in Northern Ireland.

Among the concerns expressed over the proposed facility on the Mullawinny Road were that it was within 7.5 km of two European-designated protected sites, the Cranny Bogs Special Area of Conservation and the Tonnagh Beg Bog Special Area of Conservation.

The lagoon is to be used to store litter from five poultry units when they are emptied at the end of their cycle. The litter would be stored in the lagoon until it can be spread on the land, while the dry poultry litter would be transferred into the lagoon where it will be mixed with rain water in the lagoon using a mixer.

According to the PAC report, the lagoon would be able to store around 500,000 gallons at a minimum of 80 per-cent water content and would be lined with plastic.

In order to reduce the ammonia emissions, the appellant proposed a mitigation strategy which required adding water to the litter in the lagoon.

However, Fermanagh and Omagh District Council said they had a number of concerns relating to proposed mitigation measures.

It had been stated that there are fears that when poultry manure becomes wet, it could lead to higher emissions of ammonia. According to the PAC report, bog habitats are particularly vulnerable to the toxic effects of gaseous ammonia and the associated nitrogen deposition.

Objectors also raised concerns in relation to odour and road conditions when the lagoon would be in operation.

The hearing was told that the Environmental Health Department received and investigated many complaints and its officers who visited the poultry litter lagoon in operation were ‘traumatised’ by the environmental conditions present, particularly in terms of odours, flies and noise.

The Commissioner concluded that the proposal would have a significant effect on the Cranny Bogs and Tonnagh Bogs SAC and no circumstances had been presented to demonstrate that the development was exceptional.