Moray Council has pledged its support for the creation of a massive £150million waste incinerator in Aberdeen.
The local authority has teamed with Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire councils for the landmark venture.
Councillors held a special meeting at the body’s Elgin headquarters yesterday, where members unanimously agreed to sign up to the next phase of the initiative’s development.
The energy-from-waste plant is expected to generate electricity by processing up to 150,000 tonnes of waste every year from across the north-east.
The facility will have a 260ft chimney, and has been devised as a means of reducing the north-east’s carbon footprint in advance of stringent Scottish Government regulations due to be imposed by 2021.
Moray Council’s director for economic development, planning and infrastructure services, Rhona Gunn, described the work as “innovative and exciting”.
She added: “By 2021, we will no longer be able to take organic waste to landfill sites, and this inter-authority agreement seeks to find a solution to that.”
Aberdeen City Council approved the next stage of the scheme on Monday, and Aberdeenshire members will meet today to discuss the matter.
Should all three councils decide to press forward with the development, project leaders will seek a contractor to build the large facility.
Planning permission has already been given for the plant at East Tullos in Aberdeen, and work is expected to begin on the project in 2019.