PRESS STATEMENT – PRESS STATEMENT – PRESS STATEMENT

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SDLP MLA BURNS: WILSON HIDES PLANS FOR CHICKEN LITTER INCINERATOR

SDLP South Antrim MLA Thomas Burns said Environment Minister Sammy Wilson has refused to make plans for a chicken-litter incinerator in Glenavy available to Assembly members.

He said: “I asked the Environment Minister to place the planning application in the Assembly Library, because this is not a kitchen extension or a sun lounge, but an industrial application with wide policy implications which is likely to receive millions in public money. All our elected representatives should be able to consider it at length without having to run off to the Planning Office to see the details

“Sammy Wilson got off to a rocky start in his new portfolio and it is a pity he did not take this opportunity to do something simple and cost-free to demonstrate his environmental concern.

“The applicants obviously have a sense of humour since they call a chicken manure incinerator the Rose Energy Project, but by any other name it would smell just as bad. Such a facility belongs in an industrial estate. Lough Neagh and its shores have a diversity of habitats and the lough is nationally and internationally important for wetland birds. Lough Neagh is an area of special scientific interest, a special conservation area, a special protection area and an area of high scenic value. Building an incinerator on its shores would be an offence against nature.”
 

ENDS