VIBORG: Two appeals boards have both revoked the permit for the second part of the planned Tjele Energy Park, because one of the politicians who has helped approve the plans, according to the boards, is incompetent.
Thus, the plans for three wind turbines and an approximately 17-hectare solar cell plant at Sjørring northeast of Viborg have been put on hold until the approvals have been reviewed.
It is the Planning Appeals Board and the Environmental and Food Appeals Board that have processed neighbor complaints about the necessary local plan and a §25 permit for the project, respectively.
Both boards have concluded that group chair Stine Damborg (K) was incompetent because in her civilian life she is the director of the association FN17 Business, who has performed paid tasks in connection with the project.
The Environmental and Food Complaints Board assesses that "it cannot be ruled out that the participation of the city council member has had an impact on the content of the decision".
The municipality's assessment disregarded
According to Viborg Stifts Folkeblad had otherwise assessed before the cases were processed that Stine Damborg was not incompetent. But since she herself had doubts, she has abstained from voting on the matter in, among other things, the finance committee and the city council, she states.
Municipal director Lasse Jakobsen tells the newspaper that he is incomprehensible to the decisions, and that he still stands by the original assessment.
- I think that you come to the conclusion that when you cannot deny that she is incompetent, then she is incompetent. But now we need to read the decision carefully, and then we will possibly have a talk with the boards, says Lasse Jakobsen, who acknowledges that the municipality has to comply with the assessment.
Wilbek was not incompetent
The complainants also believed that the then mayor Ulrik Wilbek (V) was incompetent because his girlfriend is employed by the developer Biocirc. But since she does not have a management position or financial interest in the case, both boards of appeal agree that Wilbek was not incompetent.
Nor was city council member Peter Juhl (K), who is chairman of the board of Agro Business Denmark, disqualified, the boards of appeal decide, because he was appointed as the municipality's representative. The administration had reached the same assessment.
The neighbors had also complained about a large number of other points, including the impact on Natura 2000 areas and the assessment of noise, groundwater, PFAS, climate and landscape. However, these points of complaint did not give rise to criticism.
Although the two appeals boards thus generally approve Viborg Municipality's environmental assessments, the decisions will still be of decisive importance because the case must be processed again.
First stage also returned, third stage shaved
The permits for the first stage of Energipark Tjele, which is a solar cell plant at Kvorning, were also sent for renewed processing in the municipality by the two appeals boards earlier in December. This was because the project's impact on the so-called pond bats had not been sufficiently studied.
The planned third stage of the energy park is an energy cluster with solar panels and wind turbines at Vinge, which is planned to include 14 wind turbines and 430 hectares for solar panels.
In the meantime, Viborg has a new city council, where, among others, the Danish Democrats have demanded fewer so-called iron fields. The party has included in the constitutional agreement that the initiated planning of Energipark Tjele will indeed be maintained if the infrastructure is solved satisfactorily, but without the 430 hectares of solar panels in the third stage. In addition, planning for further renewable energy plants in the municipality is being halted.
The Environmental and Food Board's decision on the Sjørring project can be read here.
The Planning Appeals Board's decision on the Sjørring project can be read here.
The Environmental and Food Board's decision on the Kvorning project can be read here.
The Planning Appeals Board's decision on the Kvorning project can be read here.
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