Carlow County Council have responded to claims that they hindered efforts to stop a mast being built in a local community.
The ‘Stop the Mast’ group in Rathvilly told KCLR earlier this week that they felt if they’d been notified of an appeal earlier, the mast may not have been given the go-ahead.
The CEO of Carlow’s Local Authority says they don’t agree that they negatively impacted the appeals process.
The telecommunications mast being built by Cignal Infrastructure was originally refused by Carlow in 2017 after 41 submissions were made by locals.
However, it was subsequently appealed to An Bórd Pleanála and the green light has now been given for the 24-metre high development.
The appeal was lodged on the 28th of November 2017 but it wasn’t until the 23rd of May the following year that the council wrote to objectors advising them of the appeal.
Those involved in the ‘Stop the Mast’ group, feel that if the council had notified them earlier they would have been able to build a proper case against it.
However, in a statement to KCLR, council CEO, Kathleen Holohan says the date for objections to An Bord Pleanála was over a month after their letter was eventually issued.
And therefore, no objectors were hindered from engaging in the appeals process.
