Roots of mature trees protected near wind farm in Offaly

A last minute change to the planned route of a trench may have protected the roots of mature trees near Moanvane wind farm in north Offaly.

Cllr Mark Hackett was contacted by a concerned resident that a trench along the road leading to the Moanvane wind farm was likely to damage the roots of mature trees.

Cllr Hackett said: “There is a stretch of road near the entrance to the wind farm with mature trees, including some spectacular beech. They must be over 100 years old. The work to prepare the trench had already begun and it was planned to run along the road right in front of the line of trees.

“It was to be a deep and wide trench to service the wind farm but the location posed a possible risk to the roots of the trees. In fairness to all involved, there was a great willingness to reach a compromise and the trench was rerouted to the other side of the road. I inspected it and was very relieved to find there were no obvious root disturbance following the digging.”

The Green party councillor added: “This all happened over a couple of days last week. It was just in time too as I believe that Moanvane has since received delivery of the first turbine components to the site. Early morning deliveries are planned for the next seven to eight weeks so other road users should take extra care.”