Latest news with #MourneGondola
BBC News
30-07-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Mourne Gondola: Muir's department blocks plans for cable car at Rostrevor
Newry, Mourne and Down District Council's plan to move the Mourne Gondola project from Newcastle to Rostrevor will not be supported by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA).Minister Andrew Muir said he has "serious concerns about the potential impact the project would have on environmentally sensitive areas".The council's proposal to move the project from Newcastle to Rostrevor was confirmed in May after the National Trust said it would not be leasing land on Slieve Donard for the cable car ride aims to attract 350,000 visitors each year. In a statement on Wednesday, Muir said he "greatly values Rostrevor forest and its role within the wider landscape context". It added that given the minister's concerns, "the Department is not in a position to support the council's proposal for the project to be constructed at Rostrevor forest". "Minister Muir greatly values highly the work undertaken to date by Newry, Mourne and Down District Council in partnership with Forest Service and he wishes to see such collaboration continue," the statement said. The council said in May that the new cable car route was yet to be determined but confirmed it would not pass through the ancient oak woodland in a council press release did not state a proposed route for the ride at Rostrevor, a number of sources told BBC NI that they believed the preferred terminus to be in the vicinity of a landmark called Cloughmore (the Big Stone).The cable car or gondola plan is officially known as the Mourne Mountains Gateway project. What is the cost of the gondola project? The BBC revealed last month that spending on the gondola project has reached £1.35m before construction has original plan for the £44m project would have involved the development of a 1km cable car structure and a mountainside visitors' centre on Slieve previous route would have carried passengers 230m up from Donard Park in Newcastle to a disused of the project say it would drive tourism and the local economy with the potential of attracting up to 350,000 visitors a have raised environmental concerns as well questioning whether local access roads could accommodate that many visitors or whether the project would indeed attract that many people in the first relation to the use of Slieve Donard land, the National Trust said the project should not go ahead in light of the "fragile and threatened" state of the Mourne amended costings or route have since been provided by the council in relation to the Rostrevor News NI has contacted Newry, Mourne and Down District Council for comment.
BBC News
15-04-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Mournes Gondola: National Trust pauses engagement with local council
Plans for a 1km (0.6mile) long cable car ascending Slieve Donard have taken a major blow after the National Trust - one of the landowners on the mountain - said it would be pausing engagement with the local council behind the the Trust said, is until it receives robust and comprehensive environmental assessments on the news will come as a major blow to Newry, Mourne and Down Council who hoped the facility would be operational by News NI has contacted the council for comment. The Mournes Gateway Project, better known as the Mourne Gondola, is a cable car ride that would ascend some 230m from Donard Park in Newcastle to the disused Thomas Quarry on Slieve quarry sits just above the treeline on Northern Ireland's highest peak and is owned by the National Trust. The project is expected to cost £44m, with £30m coming from the Belfast Region City Deal and the remainder from Newry, Mourne and Down District its development, it has had a mixed response with positivity from many in the local business community and opposition from others, including December last year a petition of nearly 6,000 objections was presented at the Assembly. Following that the Council promised a series of engagement reported by the Irish News, on Tuesday, the National Trust has said that it is "pausing engagement" with the council behind the project. Andy Carden was the man behind the petition objecting to the project and also sits on the stakeholder group."I can't speak on behalf of the other stakeholders, but my impression has been that the process has been poor," he told BBC News NI."Most of the stakeholders probably want to talk about the fundamental issues about building a visitors' centre in the quarry on the mountain."Instead it feels like a tick box exercise discussing minor parts of the issue."Newry, Mourne and Down Council had hoped the facility could be open by 2029. BBC News NI have asked the council where Tuesday's developments leave the project. Trust needs 'robust and comprehensive environmental assessments' The Trust's statement said: "In the spirit of our Memorandum of Understanding, we remain open to engage with Newry, Mourne and Down District Council (NMDDC) and key stakeholders."Despite not being directly involved in the project development, we have engaged throughout, sharing our own environmental data on the area, including information on ongoing efforts to restore the fragile upland habitats and maintain existing paths."Our strategy prioritises nature restoration and looking after wildlife, historic places, and landscapes and, as a conservation charity, we need to prioritise where we use our resources towards our core conservation objectives."We have consistently stated the need for robust and comprehensive environmental assessments and until we receive this, we are pausing our engagement at this time."
