Approval for council’s new HQ could face rigorous examination

Approval for council’s new HQ could face rigorous examination

2 July 2025

A CONTROVERSIAL decision to grant planning approval for Newry, Mourne and Down Council’s new £17m headquarters is to face further scrutiny.

The local authority’s Planning Committee recently approved a recommendation to approve the scheme at Abbey Way in Newry — despite 2,600 objections.

Four members of the 12-councillor committee gave the green light to what is being billed as a new civic centre and regional hub which means the local authority will have two administrative centres, with the other in Downpatrick.

One of the main objectors was the Catholic Church which expressed major concern about the centre’s proximity to the near 200 year old Newry cathedral.

The ultra-modern civic hub – which will be home to 215 staff and have a debating chamber for council meetings –  is part of a broader city regeneration scheme that includes a 15 acre park, a theatre and a road bypass and is supported by the Belfast Region City Deal.

The Planning Committee’s ruling is being challenged after a number of councillors appealed for a so-called call in process to be activated.

The call-in bid claims the “determination of the application was tainted by apparent bias” and the decision to approve “does not comply with the council’s best value duty”, with speculation the planning approval decision could also face a judicial review in the High Court.

During the planning committee meeting, legal advice was withheld from councillors as to why planners felt their decision not to refuse what looked like an invalid planning application was lawful.

It has been suggested the legal advice was reportedly withheld because of the likely event of at least one judicial review of the planning process by those adversely affected, while questions continue to be asked why the local authority is pressing ahead with the £17m development.

And objectors are insisting there are “thousands of square meters of available modern office space for rent or sale” in the centre of Newry.

Alliance councillor Cadogan Enright, who walked out of the recent planning meeting without voting, secured the signatures of six council colleagues forcing council chief executive Marie Ward to consider a call-in of the application ahead of it being ratified by the full council.

It is being suggested she may also have to seek independent legal advice on the local authority’s behalf.

Cllr Enright said he organised the call-in because of what he described as “serious concerns for the project’s legal standing”.

He continued: “Only four members of the committee voted in favour, compared to all 41 members of the council. I had legal advice from the council’s own lawyer to leave the room for the vote having expressed an opinion on the project in the past. Others similarly affected did not leave the room.

“The withholding of legal advice from councillors on the validity of the application in the first place is truly unbelievable.”

The Downpatrick councillor explained that on these and other legal and procedural grounds Alliance and Independents from across the council called in the “utterly unnecessary project on two separate grounds”.

He said the first was “community impact” given the negative effect of the proposal on the business community in Newry City Centre and the Catholic community “as a council report stated the large second headquarters would not have a measurable impact on the local economy or parking”.

Cllr Enright said there was also a call-in on legal and procedural grounds.

“We believe the planning application had been granted before all the relevant facts had been considered by the committee,” he continued.

“There was the appearance of irrationality and the apparent breaching of several planning laws or regulation. The call-ins also pointed to the fact that the determination may be tainted by an apparent bias.

“There is also an economic argument in that the thousands of square metres of vacant, modern office accommodation in Newry City Centre cannot be rented or sold.”

Cllr Enright said the council could acquire office premises with good parking for its Newry staff for 20% or less of what he claimed “this giant carbuncle of a newly built HQ would cost”.

He said council staff in Newry would not have to endure three years of temporary accommodation “before moving into a decent workplace” and was astonished the multi-million pound proposal “could be forced through” by the area’s two larger parties — Sinn Fein and the SDLP —  with just four people voting.

Cllr Enright added “This is another desperate attempt by the SDLP and the Sinn Fein to ram through unnecessary financial vanity projects in the district. 

“The gondola is already an expensive failure; now we are looking at our council having two modern new headquarters rather than to pick up an existing city centre modern office cheap, sufficient for all Newry-based staff. This makes no sense.”

In a statement, Newry, Mourne and Down Council said it was aware of the call in and “will consider it in line with due process”.