Latest news with #MourneMountains
BBC News
5 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Rostrevor: Cable car plan may move to Kilbroney Forest Park
A new location for a proposed cable car route in County Down is being considered after a plan to build it on Northern Ireland's highest mountain was blocked. Newry, Mourne and Down Council had hoped to install a cable car at Slieve Donard until the National Trust refused to lease land it manages for the project. On Wednesday, the council confirmed it was now "exploring" the possibility of moving it to Kilbroney Forest Park in Rostrevor instead. The cable car concept, also referred to as a gondola, has divided opinion for several years, with environmentalists objecting and some businesses arguing it would attract visitors to the area. The council said the new cable car route was yet to be determined but confirmed it would not pass through the ancient oak woodland in Kilbroney. "Environmental sensitivity will continue to be a core principle of the proposal," the council added. It said the updated proposal had secured the support of Warrenpoint, Burren and Rostrevor Chamber of Commerce who described it as "a game-changer". The chamber said it would "create a compelling tourism offering in the district, while also encouraging visitors to continue their journeys into the heart of the Mournes and beyond". The cable car or gondola plan is officially known as the Mourne Mountains Gateway would receive central government funding through the Belfast Region City Deal (BRCD). Politicians had expressed concerns that the blocking of the plan at Slieve Donard would put millions of pounds of BRCD money at risk. A new addition to the Finn McCool legend? Rumours that the focus of the Mourne gondola project could be moving from Newcastle to Rostrevor began circulating in south Down in the last couple of is understood a number of meetings have taken place with political and business leaders discussing the possibility of moving the scheme effectively from one side of the Mournes to the this end BBC NI asked the council to comment on the rumours earlier this Wednesday, they confirmed that the matter is indeed being the council press release does not state a proposed route for the ride, a number of sources have told BBC NI that they believe the preferred terminus to be in the vicinity of a landmark called Cloughmore (the Big Stone). The huge granite boulder was deposited on the slopes of Slieve Martin during the last ice age and forms part of the legend of Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn McCool). There is already a mountain drive through Kilbroney to a large carpark just a couple of hundred yards below Cloughmore. A series of popular downhill mountain bike trails already operate in the for its part, is already gearing up for the opening of the nearby Narrow Water Bridge just a few miles away. There is a fresh focus on tourism on this side of the Mournes – whether this means the gondola will be welcomed or rejected is a question locals will now be considering. Why did the National Trust decide against the cable car at Slieve Donard? The National Trust is responsible for the land in the Eastern Mournes Special Area of Conservation including Slieve Donard and Thomas Quarry - the site previously earmarked for the proposed gondola station and a visitor proposed £44m project would have involved the development of a 1km cable car structure from Donard Park up to the disused in April there were almost 150 wildfires in the Mournes, which had a devastating effect on habitats in the mountain a statement on 1 May, the trust confirmed the proposed project would "risk placing additional pressures on already degraded upland habitats".It would therefore "not be considering a lease at Thomas Quarry".At the time, Newry, Mourne and Down District Council said the trust's decision was "particularly frustrating".
BBC News
13-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Mournes wildfires: Plea for new approach to stop devastating blazes
A group picking up the pieces after wildfires devastated thousands of acres in and around the Mourne mountains is calling for clarity on what can be done to prevent blazes and tackle Heritage Trust estimates a fire in Silent Valley in April spread over 1,500-1,700 group says Stormont should consider banning fires at certain times of year and has questioned whether a helicopter could have been used to fight the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) said it would consider banning fires, while the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) said a helicopter would not have been appropriate due to a number of operational factors. Andrew Baird from Mourne Heritage Trust said there was "virtually nothing left" on land he assessed close to Ben Crom dam."You've got no habitat for reptiles, insects and small birds. Everything is gone," he fire burned for four days and had to be tackled by physically beating it."There was water all around here and we were just using shovels," he said."We were pushing for a helicopter but apparently it wasn't available."A spokesperson for NIFRS said the service did not have immediate access to firefighting aircraft and had to request them."In this circumstance, the use of a helicopter as a water resource was not requested due to a number of factors including; wind direction and speed, nature and size of the fire front and the impact on operational activity on the ground," the spokesperson said."This was an operational risk based decision and was not based on budget."They said NIFRS worked with a number of other agencies to ensure they used the best approach to fighting the fire. Mr Baird said fires should be banned in mountainous areas when there is an amber or red wildfire warning said it would be open to this but it would require a new law to be passed by Stormont and there was a tight timetable because the assembly did not sit for almost two years from 2022 to 2024."This is however something that could be assessed as part of any future package of wider legislative review," a spokesperson said. What sort of damage was caused to the Mournes? Most of the land where "the deeper, slower burn damage" happened is in the harder to access areas higher Allen from NI Water, which manages Silent Valley reservoir, said it had not been able to access the site to do an ecological survey yet."The habitat up there is a bit of a mosaic. There's areas of deep peat - which is peat that is deeper than 50cm," she said."There's shallow peat, there's Montane heath , just a very rare high altitude habitat. There's heathers, sphagnum mosses - a mixture of all very different species and different habitats."The concern is that the top layer of vegetation has been destroyed which leaves the ground exposed."That's what we don't want to be eroding down into our water here," she it wouldn't pose any risk to drinking water "there's potentially a higher expense in treatment chemicals and electricity" to get it to the same standard. On the Sandbank Road between Hilltown and Rostrevor the fire damaged land is easier to access but not so easy to environmentalist JohnRoss McMahon was here the night a major incident was declared and homes had to be has been back to take a closer look at the damage. "The one word I would say - it's permanent," he said."There's much deeper damage where the fire has got under the peat and has burned under the ground. "You can see the pits where the peat has burned away and the soil has essentially collapsed."He said it was not just a matter of leaving it alone but that something had to be done to bring it back to its natural said funding for peatland restoration projects was planned at various sites across Northern Ireland."A Peatland Strategy is also due to be published soon once Stormont executive approval is obtained to drive a wider and collaborative approach to achieve enhanced and sustained peatland restoration," a spokesperson said. At Silent Valley new approaches are being tried to encourage the land to recover Baird said the heritage trust was piloting a scheme of "hydro seeding"."Basically we're spreading a seed mixture over the surface of the ground which will increase the amount of vegetation cover that will be here over the winter," he that is only to be trialled in one small area - most of it could take up to 10 years to return to "like for like".
