A Stormont department is to consider "calling in" plans to extend one of Northern Ireland's main power stations.
Proposals for Kilroot power station near Carrickfergus in Co Antrim were submitted to Mid and East Antrim Borough Council.
The Department for Infrastructure has issued a direction to ensure it assesses the plans before any decision is made.
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As a result of the direction, the council when it makes a recommendation will notify the department.
The department will then consider whether the applications should be "called in" for it to make a decision, or left for the local authority to determine.
It said it was able to issue the direction in the absence of Stormont ministers.
The move follows an environmental campaign group in Northern Ireland writing to Stormont officials urging them to call in the plans.
The department confirmed a formal direction had been issued to the council in a letter to Friends of the Earth campaigner Declan Allison.
Calling for the plans to be rejected, he said: "At a time when we must urgently and rapidly cut our greenhouse gas emissions, the last thing we need is an extension to the gas power station at Kilroot.
"The Department for Infrastructure must use its powers to call in this application and reject it."
Kilroot representatives were also approached for comment.
The Department for Infrastructure said one of two planning applications related to the power station was at an "advanced stage in processing".
A spokeswoman added: "Officials therefore considered it prudent to issue notification directions to the council and is able to do so in the absence of a minister.
"These directions, issued under Articles 17 and 18 of the Planning (General Development Procedure) Order (Northern Ireland) 2015, came into effect on March 31 2023.
"As a result of these directions, the council will have to notify the department when it makes a recommendation in relation to the applications, and it cannot issue decisions until the department has decided whether or not it wishes to 'call in' the applications.
"Once the council has notified the department of its recommendation, the department can then make a decision, as to whether or not the applications should be 'called in' to it for determination."
A Mid and East Antrim council spokesman said: "The directions do not commit the department to calling the applications in, but it does reserve the right to intervene.
"This means that once the planning committee of Mid and East Antrim Borough Council has considered these applications and formed a recommendation either to approve or refuse, the applications will be referred to the department for consideration, and no decision will issue until further instructed by the department."
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