3,000 join petition against gondola plan

3,000 join petition against gondola plan

7 August 2024

THE petition calling for a controversial gondola ride into the heart of the Mournes to be abandoned has now secured 3,000 signatures.

The ride from Donard Park to a proposed visitor centre at the site of a disused quarry at Thomas’s Mountain is the centrepiece of the multi-million pound Mournes Gateway project.

It is being financed by the Belfast City Region Deal and Newry, Mourne and Down Council, but public opinion on the Newcastle project is split, with previous calls for work on what is one of the biggest tourism schemes ever proposed for the island of Ireland to be shelved rejected by the local authority.

The bid to stop the £44m project – which has been branded by some as a “white elephant and vanity project” – is being made by the Mourne Gateway Info Group, with Mountaineering Ireland also voicing its opposition to the project.

Campaigners want the flagship tourism project to transport people via cable cars from Donard Park over trees in Donard Forest to the proposed visitor centre to be aborted in favour of what it describes as “more responsible, available alternatives”.

Campaigners are also extremely concerned about the “unjustifiable financial risk to ratepayers” and rising project costs.

Council officials have promised full public consultation on what is being billed as a “world class tourism attraction” but campaigners say the scheme should be abandoned.

It has been suggested that the gondola ride could open in 2029 with projections that if the project gets the green light, it could attract 365,000 visitors annually after five years in business, generating just over £5m in revenue.

Those behind the scheme – which is also the largest ever capital investment project proposed for the district – say it has been designed to position the area as one of the province’s premier tourism districts and create 33 new jobs.

Council officials say there is a lot of work to do over the next few years to get to the stage where they want to be on site in Donard Park and in the disused quarry on Thomas’s mountain “with a lot of detail to be discussed and considerations to be made over the next two years”.

It is hoped to secure planning approval in 2026 and to also start construction in mid-2026 with a completion date in early 2029, with the tourism project fully operational by the middle of the year.

News that 3,000 people have now signed the petition calling for the gondola ride to be aborted comes after a consultancy firm was appointed to help deliver one of the biggest ever tourism projects proposed for the island of Ireland.

The team was appointed after it was confirmed that the flagship tourism project has received £30m in funding from the Department for the Economy under the Belfast City Deal, with the local council making a £14m contribution.

Last week the National Trust, which owns Thomas’s Quarry, expressed its concerns and said it would not be issuing a lease until a full environmental impact assessment was carried out.

The charity said it has consistently expressed its concerns about the potential environmental impacts of the proposed gondola and welcomes the council decision to undertake some environmental assessments.

But the Trust says much more information is needed to fully understand the environmental and practical implications of any proposals, with the organisation remaining focused on ensuring safe sustainable access for people in the Mournes, as well as protecting the mountain habitat and landscape around Slieve Donard and Commedagh “for today and future generations”.

Newry, Mourne and Down Council chairman Pete Byrne, said the project would give everyone the opportunity to connect with the natural beauty of the Mournes in an accessible and sustainable way.

“We believe the Mourne Mountains Gateway Project can position the district as one of the premier tourist destinations across the island of Ireland and we are delighted to announce the appointment of an expert consultancy team led by Arup,” he said.

Ciaran McGarrity, the Department of Economy’s director of City Deals and Place, said the organisation 

had been working closely with the council to achieve confirmation of the £30m from Belfast Region City Deal, which represented a “huge investment into tourism for the region”.

Tourism NI chief executive John McGrillen said the project would provide another “must see” tourism offering for Northern Ireland.