Arc21: Council requests withdrawal from waste incinerator project

An artist's impression of the waste incineration facility shows the scale of the project

Evidence uncovered by BBC Spotlight indicates that a council involved in a proposal for a multi-million pound waste incinerator wants to withdraw.

Six councils - acting as the Arc21 waste management group - submitted a planning application for the Mallusk site, in north Belfast, in 2014.

But a letter leaked to Spotlight indicates that Antrim and Newtownabbey Council no longer wish to take part.

The plan was that the incinerator would be built in its council area.

The site of the proposed incinerator near Glengormley

The proposal has been dogged by planning delays since the application was first submitted in 2014.

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It was turned down by the then environment minister Mark H Durkan in 2015, before Arc21 successfully appealed two years later.

The application is now with the Department for Infrastructure.

In the meantime, concerns have grown over the cost - at least £240m to be paid for ultimately by ratepayers - and whether the plant is still needed.

Last October, the chief executive of Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council, Jacqui Dixon, wrote to Arc21 citing those concerns. She said the council wanted out.

In an interview with BBC Spotlight to be broadcast on Tuesday night, Arc21's acting chief executive Tim Walker responds to Antrim and Newtownabbey Council's request to leave.

A letter leaked to Spotlight indicates that Antrim and Newtownabbey Council no longer wish to take part

"I don't know how anybody can determine it is unaffordable because we haven't seen what the price is and I don't know how anybody can turn around say it is not needed because the reality is that's not the view of the other councils remaining in this," he said.

Colin Buick, of No-Arc21, a group opposed to the incinerator, said Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council's request was "fantastic".

"It's vindication of our campaign which has been going on for over 10 years," he said.

Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council said the correspondence with Arc21 was confidential and commercially sensitive and it could not comment.

BBC Spotlight will be broadcast on BBC One Northern Ireland on Tuesday, 8 March at 22:45 GMT and is available on BBC iPlayer shortly after.