Published Friday, 25 May 2012

Only half of the 400 expected homes were built at the private Woodbrook Housing development after the developer collapsed, but doubts have been raised whether the biomass plant would ever have been financially viable.

Residents are now facing running costs for the wood-chip fuelled heating that are three and a half times those of natural gas.

Sean McErlean, who owns a home in the village expressed his disappointment but said he was happy there was some resolution to the situation.

He said: "It's unfortunate that the resolution now means the end to the eco lifestyle that many people bought into with the district heating system".

On Monday at a meeting householders were given a number of proposed options by the management company.

The options for the energy centre included upgrading the system but it seems more likely the development will be converted to natural gas.

Lagan Valley MLA Basil McCrea supported the residents' search for a solution but said they still have homes to be proud.

"We looked at the figures, the scheme as it was presented is not viable. That says something about this type of installation. The more you get to understand the more you realise that it doesn't really work in this particular environment, so there's an issue with moving forward," he said.

"But we still have houses that are particularly well built and insulated, there's a future in those aspects but as for district heating systems they would need to look hard and long at them."

Excerpt from:

Eco village heating too costly to run - Video