Hopes £44m Mournes Gateway cable car ride opens in six years

8 March 2023

THE highly ambitious £44m Mournes Mountains Gateway project, which features a cable car ride into the heart of the mountains, could open in 2029.

Tomorrow, the public gets its first chance to view early concept proposals for what is being billed as a “world class tourism attraction” for Newcastle which is being financed by the Belfast City Region Deal and Newry, Mourne and Down Council.

A public information event to provide an overview of the proposals and concept designs takes place at O’Hare’s in Newcastle between 10am and 3pm and 5pm and 7pm, with residents urged to make the most of the opportunity to comment on plans to create improved and more sustainable access to the Mournes.

Senior council officials will be in attendance to discuss plans for what is one of the biggest ever tourism projects proposed for Northern Ireland which aims redefine the visitor experience of the Mournes, whilst supporting the sustainable growth of tourism and protecting and enhancing the natural heritage and habitat of the region.

The project is designed to position the local area as one of the province’s premier tourism districts, create 33 new jobs and encourage additional investment in the resort and wider area, particularly in new visitor accommodation. It is also designed to support sustainable tourism and improvements to infrastructure and accessibility.

It is being suggested that if the year-round international tourism project gets the green light, it could attract 365,000 visitors annually after five years in business, generating just over £5m for the district by this point and support businesses across the wider area.

A cable car will transport visitors from a base station in Donard Park up over trees in Donard Forest to a major new visitor centre which will be built at Thomas’s Quarry, which closed six years ago.

Early concept designs show the proposed new centre, built from as many sustainable materials as possible and featuring a cafe/restaurant and interpretative centre, will be raised above the quarry floor on stilts to ensure it will have minimal impact on the existing quarry site.

The aim is to ensure the proposed centre will be as sustainable and as carbon neutral as possible and, that where possible, local materials will be incorporated during construction with the project.

All work will be subject to Northern Ireland Environment Agency scrutiny with the organisation also a key consultee.

Council officials say they are acutely conscious of the environment and know it will be one of the most important issues people will raise with them.

They admit there are challenges trying to build a facility of this nature half way up a mountain, anticipating that it will be in pre-fabricated form, with materials taken up the mountain and reassembled on site which they hope will lessen the impact on the environment and maximise the benefits of recycling of materials for use in this building.

Ahead of tomorrow’s information event, council officials insist the flagship tourism project — which aims to attract visitors from across the globe — is not something they are going to rush into.

During a press briefing on the largest ever capital investment programme proposed for the district, senior local authority figures said they will take their time and go through all the various steps in an appropriate manner and ensure they deal with all the issues.

They insisted they were also keen for the public to work alongside them to deliver the international tourism attraction which could open in six years’ time.

The project board, which met last week, has been handed the job of providing the strategic direction to the council and the scheme’s project team on delivering the £44m attraction.

In addition, comprehensive stakeholder engagement and communication plans will be developed and there are plans to establish a stakeholder forum. But a design team has not yet been appointed with council officials admitting that there is an awful lot of work still to do.

It is claimed that the project will create almost 500 jobs through apprenticeships and the construction phase, in tandem with other indirect jobs

Currently, the focus is on appointing the design team to take the project forward to the next stage with plans to carry out comprehensive surveys and investigations through to the end of next year.

There will be in-depth ecology and environmental studies in preparation for a planning application in 2025.

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.

Council officials say “there is still an awful lot of work to do” and that they have considered a lot of the issues that need to be resolved which are not unique to the them or the public which share the same concerns and maybe have the same questions about the project.

They added: “We want to listen, inform and engage with people. We want people in the room to help shape the project.

“It will be challenging given the major capital investment we are talking about, but we want to bring people along by informing and communicating with them. Our message to them is to work with us on this project.

“Everything is on the table for discussion. We have got the project to this stage around a concept and want to now move forward with open ears.”

It is also being suggested that the proposed cable car ride could used by the emergency services, such as the Mourne Mountain Rescue Team and Fire and Rescue Service, for access into the Mournes.

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