An Bord Pleanála has unanimously refused planning permission for the construction of a bio-diesel plant in Co Cork because it would be "located randomly in the open countryside remote from any industrially zoned lands".
Overturning Cork County Council's decision to approve the plant at Farahy, Kildorrery, between Mallow and Mitchelstown, the appeals board ruled it would be an "unsustainable form of development" in this rural location.
Developer Dennis Howard had proposed to build a bio-diesel plant with a maximum output of 100,000 tonnes a year. It would have had its own electricity sub-station, back-up generator, reservoir and sewage treatment system.
The decision last February to conditionally approve the scheme was appealed by Michael Foody of Swift Property Services and others.
