A PRELIMINARY notice has been lodged with Mid and East Antrim borough council for the construction of three inspection buildings at the Port of Larne.
The application for the site at Redlands Road includes stores, an internal spine road and car parking, boundary fencing, security huts and CCTV.
It states: “The construction of inspection facilities are 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 Windsor Framework deal between the UK and EU establishes a new set of arrangements for the movement of goods between Britain and Northern Ireland and provides a new basis for trusted traders to move their goods through a new 'green lane'.
The new arrangements came into effect on Sunday.
The UK's Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has 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 purpose of these facilities is to enable the delivery of Official Control Regulation (Red Lane) checks on goods moving on to the EU single market and to conduct any necessary Windsor Framework (Green Lane) checks on goods remaining in Northern Ireland," the department said.
Read more:
‘Not for EU' labels introduced alongside new red and green lanes for NI goods
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“The new facilities will also enable the delivery of biosecurity checks on animal and livestock movements.
"Larne, in particular, handles livestock movements and checks, ensuring animal welfare and health.”
In February 2021, then-Stormont agriculture minister, the DUP's Gordon Lyons, ordered a halt to construction of new purpose-built inspection facilities planned in Larne and Belfast for Irish Sea post-Brexit checks on agri-food goods arriving from Great Britain amid growing controversy over the Northern Ireland Protocol.
The DUP is continuing to boycott power-sharing at Stormont over objections to trading restrictions caused by the Northern Ireland Protocol, and has said it will not form an Executive until changes are made to the Irish Sea border.
The party has said the Windsor Framework, which was heralded by the British government as a solution to problems arising from the Protocol, does not fully address its concerns.
Talks are continuing between the DUP and London.
