The company which has been refused planning permission for a 400 megawatt gas-fired electricity generating plant in Navan, Co Meath, has said it will appeal the decision.
Opponents of the development welcomed the decision of Meath County Council to turn down the application by E Gen Ltd to develop the 21,000-square metre plant with an emissions stack 49.9 metres high and other facilities, not far from Navan.
The plan to locate this plant less than 200 metres from the Boyne Valley was one of the county council's main reasons for rejection.
The council said its policy was to permit development only in exceptional circumstances in this area, designated as high natural beauty and amenity in the county development plan.
The council considered that factors such as the scale, height, bulk and massing of structures would visually interfere with the sensitive landscape of the Boyne Valley.
The council also decided that notwithstanding the industrial land use zoning objective of the site, the development would adversely affect "orderly, balanced and integrated expansion" in the Navan area.
The planning authority highlighted the unprecedented growth in Navan since 1997, when the last development plan for the area was adopted. This had resulted in considerable depletion in the availability of its zoned lands around Navan town. Since Navan has been identified as a primary development centre in the Strategic Planning Guidelines for the Greater Dublin Area, the local authority is required to provide zoned lands to cater for a projected population of 60,000 by 2016. The 1997 development would therefore need to be reviewed, the council added.
Strategy for the development of Meath Tourism, which is based on promoting a quality image of the Boyne Valley, would also be affected if the proposed development was permitted, as it would seriously erode the high amenity and visual character of the region.
Local TD and Environment and Local Government Minister Mr Noel Dempsey met residents on Thursday in Navan, at a gathering scheduled before the decision was announced.
A similar gas-fired electricity generation station in the east of the county, near Duleek, was granted planning permission by Meath County Council earlier this year. Environmental groups such as the Boyne Valley Trust and the owner of Slane Castle, Lord Mountcharles, are appealing this decision to An Bord Pleanala. One of their concerns is the high levels of water abstraction from the River Boyne which the development would entail.