Flap over chicken droppings plant

Chickens produce 250,000 tonnes of litter per year in NI

The company behind plans for a power plant in a County Antrim village has said it will do all it can to reassure the concerns of residents.

Rose Energy wants to generate electricity from chicken litter and bone meal in a £100m plant in Glenavy.

However, residents have signed a petition opposing the plan amid fears of poisons pumped into the atmosphere.

Rose Energy says burning agricultural waste will help Northern Ireland meet its renewable energy obligations.

Company spokesman Ozvaldo Maurohun said: "We believe that our plants, our projects, once they are explained and are going to be able to be understood and some of the people's concerns are going to be removed.

"But obviously there is going to be always, perhaps, a section of the public who may not want to have a plant so near."

About 500 residents attended a public meeting in the village on Wednesday night. They have urged Environment Minister Arlene Foster to stop the power plant going ahead.

The power station would be built beside a meat and bone meal factory near Glenavy.

Moy Park and O'Kane's chickens have joined forces with Glenfarm Holdings to turn the waste into electricity.

However, some concerns about the plans have been raised.

The poultry industry in Northern Ireland employs about 7,000 people, producing 1.8m birds a week.