The proposed development of new post-Brexit inspection facilities at the Port of Larne has been permitted by Mid and East Antrim Borough Council.
The proposal is for the construction of three inspection buildings at Redlands Road, security huts and stores, alterations to access, construction of internal spine road, yards, car parks and pathways.
The development also includes animal waste holding tanks for off-site disposal, storm drainage and steel boundary fencing.
The application notes the construction of inspection facilities is required “to permit Departmental and local authority officials to undertake their statutory duty to carry out sanitary and phytosanitary inspections on agri-food goods and livestock imported into Northern Ireland”.
The UK government’s Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs indicated the planned development in Larne is to “set up a permanent Sanitary and Phytosanitary SPS inspection post to replace the temporary facilities currently operating”.
The cost of employing environmental health officers at the Port of Larne was highlighted at a meeting of Mid and East Antrim Borough Council in April with the projection that more than £700,000 will be spent within a 12-month period on council staff carrying out post-Brexit checks.
A dozen environmental health officers are employed by the council to carry out the checks.
In August 2020, Mid and East Antrim Borough Council was instructed to employ 12 environmental health officers to carry out food-related inspections at Larne Port post-Brexit. The local authority was told to begin the process by the Food Standards Agency following direction issued by Whitehall.
The posts were funded entirely by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs.
The local authority continues to recover full costs for the environmental health officers, councillors have been told.