Indaver , the European waste management company proposing to build the infrastructure on the site of the former Hightown Quarry, made the comments in the wake of concerns being raised about potential discharge from the site causing pollution in Lough Neagh. The £240m scheme was originally turned down in 2015 by the then Environment Minister, Mark H Durkan . Advertisement Advertisement Did you know with an ad-lite subscription to NorthernIrelandWorld, you get 70% fewer ads while viewing the news that matters to you.
arc21, set up on behalf of councils in Belfast, Antrim and Newtownabbey, Ards and North Down, Lisburn and Castlereagh, Mid and East Antrim, and Newry, Mourne and Down, then secured approval from the Planning Appeals Commission. Civil servants agreed to give the plant the go ahead following a collapse in the Stormont Executive. But the High Court subsequently ruled there was no power to approve the incinerator without a minister being in place.
The Department for Infrastructure announced in September 2017 that full planning permission had been granted for the facility. However, in 2018 the Court of Appeal ruled that Stormont officials did not have the legal authority to grant permission for the facility. The plans were also refused in March 2022 by then Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon .
Advertisement Advertisement However, that decision was quashed by High Court judge Mr Justice Humphreys in May 2023. Members of No-Arc21 , the community group established to .
