Green energy plan agreed

Councillors have agreed to push forward with plans for a controversial incinerator facility in the south of Aberdeen after a special meeting yesterday.

The £150million green energy from waste plant in Tullos will take waste from Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray, to be burned and transformed into energy.

Councillors were united in approving the signing of an inter-authority agreement, meaning that a two-year procurement process can begin.

Moray and Aberdeenshire are expected to sign their agreements later this week.

The facility, which will have a 260ft chimney, aims to reduce the carbon

“It’s about fumes so close to a school and housing”

footprint of the local authority, in advance of tough Scottish Government regulations due to be imposed by 2021.

Work is expected to begin on the project in 2019.

But the plan has been met with fury in communities south of the Dee with four community councils launching formal objections citing health fears and an increase in traffic among other issues.

Yesterday a special meeting of the full city council was convened.

In a rare show of unity, the Labour-led administration and opposition SNP group came to an agreed motion with a number of extra conditions.

David Fryer, secretary of Torry Community Council, said: “The anguish in the community isn’t about cheap heat.

“It’s about industrial fumes so close to a school and housing.”