District councillors urged to veto Mournes cable car ride

23 April 2025

NEWRY, Mourne and Down Council is coming under increasing pressure to scrap the controversial gondola ride into the Mournes.

All of the district’s 41 councillors are being urged to reject the proposed scheme in the wake of the National Trust’s decision to pause engagement with the local authority over the £44m scheme.

And it has also been confirmed that Stormont economy minister, Caoimhe Archibald, is to be asked for her assessment of the current situation in the wake of the National Trust’s decision.

The gondola — which is the first of its kind proposed on the island of Ireland — is at the heart of the Mourne Gateway Project being financed by the Belfast Region City Deal and the local council.

It’s proposed to build a base station in Donard Park with the gondola ferrying people to a proposed new visitor centre at a disused quarry at Thomas’s mountain.

The National Trust, which owns the land required to deliver the scheme if planning approval was secured, said it has ceased discussions with the local authority until it receives “robust and comprehensive environmental assessments on the proposals”.

Many people are opposed to what is being billed as a “flagship tourism proposal” which has been labelled a “vanity project” and one that has the potential to cost ratepayers millions of pounds.

Campaigners opposed to the gondola have set up an online appeal to local politicians urging them to do everything in their power “to end the gondola project now” and say it should not be built.

“Enormous damage would be done to the quarry and to the mountain slopes around and above it,” they insist in an online post.

“Donard Park and the forest trails would be industrialised with the noise and disturbance of the bottom base station, pylons, cables and gondola cars. Construction, maintenance and service vehicles would spoil the peace and quiet of the forest and magnificent old trees around the Glen River would be cleared.”

Campaigners also insist the famous view of the Mournes landscape would be spoiled and last year, over 6,600 people signed a petition calling for a halt to the multi-million pound project.

“The National Trust is a conservation organisation and is highly unlikely to agree to a project that does so much environmental harm to the land it owns and manages,” the campaigners’ post continues.

“Planning permission is a major hurdle for construction in a Special Area Of Conservation, an Area Of Special Scientific Interest, a Geopark and an Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty.”

Campaigners say “unrealistic projected visitor numbers” and spiralling costs risk a huge burden to ratepayers and council service users.

“Traffic and parking problems would be much worse than at present. The business would fail if there was insufficient income to sustain the operation and ratepayers would suffer with the costs of a difficult construction project like this and with its unsustainable operating and maintenance costs.”

Campaigners cite The Gobbins Cliff Path which has cost millions of pounds in repairs and maintenance and has been closed nearly as many days as it has been open in the past decade.

“In the event of the gondola failing, there would be the removal costs too,” they say.

They have directly challenged local councillors to use their power to scrap the “deeply unpopular and costly gondola project”

They insist there are alternatives to the gondola that can improve access to the Mournes without causing “irreversible damage to the mountains and wildlife”.

Campaigners say at a time of climate and biodiversity crisis, “this is clearly the wrong project”.

Their appeal to councillors adds: “A public survey over a year ago found that 78% of local people were opposed to the project, this figure is almost certainly even higher now. These are the views of your constituents. Please make sure you properly represent them and stop this project. There are much better, cheaper and more sustainable alternatives available.”

Confirming discussions with the local authority had been paused, the National Trust said in the spirit of its Memorandum of Understanding, it remains open to engage with the local council 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,” the Trust said in a statement.

“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.”

The statement added: “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.”

Newry, Mourne and Down Council said it will continue to work with all parties and key stakeholders on the development of the project and are progressing through RIBA Stage 2 of the project, that includes the completion of the necessary environmental surveys and reports in order to develop the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) that will support the planning application.

“We have shared with the National Trust all the environmental information that we hold and acknowledge that the environmental concerns they have raised are shared by the Council and are being fully considered and will be addressed as part of the development of the EIA,” said a spokeswoman.

“This is a considerable piece of work that involves seasonal environmental/ecology surveys and regular engagement with key stakeholders which is encouraged, including with the National Trust.

“This will ensure we have a full understanding of all the environmental concerns and take the necessary measures to address them, the EIA report will be available towards the end of the year.”

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