DUP MLA backs Newtownabbey incinerator plans

DUP representative Trevor Clarke made a series of comments endorsing the £240m project on social media last week.

arc21, made up of six constituent local authorities in Northern Ireland, is behind proposals for a residual waste treatment facility in the Boghill Road area of Newtownabbey.

The facility is designed to deal with waste from a significant portion of the population and includes Mechanical and Biological Treatment, Energy from Waste Thermal Treatment and Incinerator Bottom Ash Treatment facilities, plus a Refuse Derived Fuel Bale Storage building and an administration/visitor centre.

Commenting on Twitter on February 4, Mr Clarke said: “I’m backing what most councillors backed at the start of this process many years ago in this legitimate process. Let’s stop the waste, pardon the pun. Let’s get this built. Enough time has been wasted.”

Speaking to this newspaper this week, the MLA added: “I have supported this since it came to council over 10 years ago. I would be a fraud to back the anti-incinerator campaign now. It is unfortunate that other elected members backed the proposals when they first came up, but they are now happy to push it to another constituency.

“People who have voiced oppostion to the proposals have said there will be health impacts if the waste treatment facility is constructed. Experts have not found any of these. If the incinerator is not built here, it will be built somewhere else. We need to deal with waste in Northern Ireland. The facility will also create employment and will bring a disused quarry back to use.”

Campaigners have been voicing opposition to proposals for the Boghill Road area of Newtownabbey since they were first unveiled in March 2013.

Following the collapse of the Assembly, the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) announced in September 2017 that full planning permission had been granted for the waste disposal facility at the Hightown Quarry site. However, the Court of Appeal subsequently ruled that Stormont officials did not have the legal authority to grant such permission.

Campaigners, led by community group NoArc21, which was established to oppose the plans, vowed to continue their opposition after revised documents were submitted to the Department in 2019 and reiterated their concerns about visual impact, light and noise pollution and health implications after meeting the waste management group in November of that year.

Speaking in the wake of Mr Clarke’s comments, NoArc21’s chairman, Colin Buick, said: “On the proposed number of jobs proposed with the Hightown project, initially projected at around 100 staff and confirmed in the site traffic submission. This has grown over the past few years and not in keeping with the planning submission to around 400.

“We have asked how these jobs will be filled. The Hightown incinerator, if it ever goes ahead, will adversely effect the Northern Ireland waste management sector leading to hundreds of job losses, or at best displacement within Northern Ireland.

“Full Circle gasification plant in the harbour estate have already confirmed they can handle 80 per cent of Northern Ireland’s total waste to DUP DAERA Minister Poots, therefore there is no need for a 300,000 tonne waste monster.”

Welcoming Mr Clarke’s support for the proposals, a spokesperson for arc21 said: “The best way to progress matters is for the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to finalise its new needs report as quickly as possible which will allow planners to complete the process of making an evidence-based recommendation on the proposal.”

Meanwhile, Mr Clarke and his party colleague Paul Girvan MP delivered what they say was in excess of 160 letters of support for the project to the Permanent Secretary for the Department for Infrastructure last week.

Mr Girvan said: “I want the minister (Nichola Mallon) to make a decision on this application as soon as possible, but also want to see the local community benefit from the existence of new facilities, should such a scheme be given approval.

“I, therefore, call for the minister to ensure that if approved, a planning condition is added to ensure a local community fund is set up by the operator of the facility.”

Members of NoArc21 met with then Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Minister Edwin Poots in June 2020 as part of their ongoing campaign.

Following the virtual meeting, Mr Poots said: “I will take full consideration of the matter in the context of the ongoing planning process for the Hightown facility and of the strategic and long-term needs for waste management and the circular economy in Northern Ireland. While I am currently not convinced, I am convincible.” For more on this story, read here

In August last year, elected representatives from across the political spectrum continued to voice opposition to the waste treatment facility after it was announced an electricity grid connection has been secured for the site. For more on this story, read here

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