Plans for a chicken litter incinerator at Glenavy in County Antrim have been approved.

The biomass-fuelled power plant will create 300-400 construction jobs and 30 permanent jobs.

Environment minister Edwin Poots announced on Tuesday that he had approved plans.

The Rose Energy scheme is a joint venture by three local companies - O'Kane Poultry, Moy Park and Glenfarm Holdings.

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The incinerator, fuelled by poultry bedding, meat and bone meal, will produce approximately 30 megawatts of electricity.

The proposals have been opposed residents in the area beside Lough Neagh. The Communities Against the Lough Neagh Incinerator (CALNI) are to launch a legal challenge against the approval.

CALNI president Danny Moore said: "The fact that it has been made by a locally-elected minister in the face of such overwhelming opposition marks a complete failure of both planning policy and the democratic process.

"If this is the minister's response to criticism about John Lewis and Belfast City Airport, he is playing a very dangerous game." he added.

(GK/CD)