Detailed report on views about Mournes Gateway

13 September 2023

A DETAILED report is to be compiled on the public’s view of the £44m controversial Mournes Gateway project which has a gondola ride into the mountains at its heart.

The news will be confirmed at meeting of Newry, Mourne and Down Council’s most powerful statutory committee which meets in Downpatrick tomorrow night.

Members of the local authority’s influential Strategy, Policy and Resources Committee will be told that a report on all stakeholder engagement to date on the project — including a public information event last March – will be compiled and a report forwarded to the flagship tourism scheme’s Project Board.

In addition, a new stakeholder engagement strategy for the multi-million project, being financed by the Belfast City Region Deal (£30m) and local council (£14m) is to be developed as part of the project’s governance requirements.

And a list of all key stakeholders is to be drawn up in tandem with a full and comprehensive update of the status of the tourism project which is the first of its kind proposed for the island of Ireland.

Councillors will also be told tomorrow night that plans remain firmly in place to progress a full business case for the Gateway scheme and undertake a comprehensive stakeholder engagement programme, progress the detailed design and capital costs of the project and develop park-and-ride provision for Newcastle and the wider Mournes area.

There are also plans to develop a visitor management plan for Thomas’s quarry where a new visitor centre and cafe is proposed, the Glenn River, Donard Wood and surrounding area, and prepare and submit a planning application.

Council officials say these various requirements all form part of the project’s full business case which has to be approved by a number of Stormont departments and Tourism NI before an investment decision is made and the project moves to full delivery.

It will also be confirmed tomorrow night that the aim is to open the gondola ride and other aspects of the Mournes Gateway project in the second quarter of 2029.

It has been suggested that if gondola ride opens in 2029, it could potentially attract 365,000 visitors annually after five years in business, generating just over £5m in revenue.

The update comes several months after a proposal to halt development on the controversial £44m project was rejected by the local authority.

An Alliance proposal to pause development on the flagship tourism project to transport people via cable cars from Donard Park over trees in Donard Forest to the new visitor centre constructed at a former quarry on Thomas’s mountain was vetoed.

However, politicians did agree to full public consultation on what is being billed as a “world class tourism attraction”.

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.

While SDLP and Sinn Fein members of the council committee grounded Alliance’s cable car proposal and DUP and UUP members abstained when the issue was put to a vote, there was agreement to consider potential alternatives for the £44m funding package.

Alliance said the concession on public consultation and possible alternatives for the funding packages was achieved on the basis that the “environmentally and financially reckless gondola concept” continues to move forward.

The party said this was something that it could not support but hopes the local authority will move swiftly to carry out a public consultation to give ratepayers a say on what it has described as this “unwanted project and finally change direction before it's too late and the funding is lost”.

Alliance also asked the council to secure “explicit consent” from the National Trust which owns the land required to deliver the tourism project.

An amendment to the Alliance motion tabled by Sinn Fein and the SDLP “noted with concern” the continued lack of clarity regarding the proposed visitor centre located at Thomas’ Mountain and ‘gondola’ elements of the Mournes Gateway Project.

It called for “robust consultation” on the project with residents, workers and businesses within the district and active investigations to develop alternatives to the Mourne Gateway Project which will both meet the funding criteria while enhancing the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

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