Plans to expand a Belfast Lough oil terminal have been approved by Mid and East Antrim Borough Council despite opposition from local residents concerned over a big increase in its use and climate change issues. The Cloghan Point terminal will be developed into a facility for importing oil to be stored on the site before being distributed across Northern Ireland and beyond. The site currently stores part of the Republic of Ireland’s strategic reserve of diesel and gas oil.
The decision not to “call in” the planning application means that Mid and East Antrim Borough Council will officially issue permission. A campaign group has criticised infrastructure minister John O’Dowd’s failure to intervene and expressed concern that the terminal expansion will have implications far beyond one council area.
Hilary McCollum, from the Stop Whitehead Oil Terminal group, said the development represented an increase in oil imports into Northern Ireland and would impact the country’s strategy to reach net zero by 2050. The site was built in the late 1970s to serve Kilroot Power Station and Ballylumford Power Station in Islandmagee.
Residents fear that an oil spill or explosion at Cloghan Point could affect the whole of Belfast Lough and north Down. Planning decisions that are deemed to have a regional impact can be referred to the Department for Infrastructure in some cases, but the department said O’Dowd had considered the plans “in line with all of his statutory obligations”.
The department confirmed that O’Dowd has written to Mid and East Antrim council to inform them that the application will not be referred to the department for determination. McCollum said that “sometimes things go wrong
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