Belfast city council has voted against releasing 17 acres of its land on the outskirts of the city to the arc21 consortium of 11 Northern Irish councils for the potential development of the country's first energy-from-waste plant.

At a special meeting earlier this week (June 22), city councillors voted 26 to 19 to block the proposal which could have seen an energy-from-waste (EfW) facility developed in the industrial part of the city at North Foreshore.

However, councillors did vote 23 to 21 in favour of the site being considered as a potential location for the mechanical biological treatment (MBT) plant which the consortium is also looking to build.

The proposed facilities would be developed under a contract worth up to £500 million, with six companies currently shortlisted for the deal to build and run the plants (see letsrecycle.com story).

Monday's vote was held after a decision made by councilors earlier this month not to back the use of the site for EfW was deemed invalid after the High Sheriff had a vote attributed to him despite not being in attendance (see letsrecycle.com story).

Positive

Despite the council's decision, which means that it must now look elsewhere for sites for the EfW plant, the arc21 group remained positive about its plans, and revealed that it still planned to award the contract to build and run the two facilities by the start of 2011.

Ricky Burnett, policy & operations director at arc21, said: "The decision by the city council enables us to move to the next stage in our procurement process. As planned, this will include a more definitive identification of the locations proposed for the new waste facilities later in the year."

Mr Burnett also stressed that the EfW and MBT plans had both received strong public support, with nearly nine out of 10 people supporting the development of an EfW plant in a four-week consultation carried out by Belfast city council in February 2009.

"We are greatly encouraged by the overwhelming public support for EfW and MBT as evidenced by the findings of the public consultation recently held by Belfast city council," he said.