Railway hit by funding blow

Railway hit by funding blow

23 April 2025

THE Downpatrick and Co Down Railway may be forced to cancel some of its summer events after a Newry, Mourne and Down Council funding snub.

The multi-award winning railway made a bid for funding under the local authority’s events programme but the application was refused without detailed explanation why.

Disappointed railway officials have warned that the snub — the second in successive years — is a major blow and claim the council “just doesn’t seem to be able or willing to help”.

They have described the local authority’s response to the failed funding bid as “dense and difficult to interpret” with their frustration compounded by the fact that over £5m of funding made available to help Downpatrick recover from the catastrophic flooding in November 2023, was handed back to Stormont unspent and reallocated elsewhere.

The devastating floods which swamped the town centre left the heritage railway with a repair bill running into several million pounds.

Railway officials say the council’s rejection of its bid to run events which attracts visitors to Downpatrick and boosts the town’s wider economy, is “another devastating blow”.

They say a number of exciting events were in the pipeline but a huge question mark now hangs over them and they may be cancelled as the heritage railway struggles to get back on its feet after the 2023 flood.

Railway chairman, Robert Gardiner, said the funding snub has not angered him as the result the charity now expects from the local authority when it comes to support is “no.”

He confirmed last year’s events funding programme bid was also rejected with the railway taking on board the feedback which was factored into its most recent application.

“The thing is, why is the application falling foul of the criteria now, when it was successful in previous years?” he asked. “If we hadn't previously been awarded this event funding, we wouldn't have had things like our Jurassic Express or Supertrain or even our afternoon teas. 

“The thing about funding like this is that it helps social enterprises and community organisations like ours take a chance and diversify their offerings, or put on bigger events that otherwise would be too expensive to get off the ground.”

An exasperated Mr Gardiner said the rejection of the application for financial support means the railway’s summer events is a bit up in the air. 

“We are determined to go ahead with the events already announced, even if they just cover their costs, but after that, it's anyone's guess,” he said.

“We will be taking a cold, hard look at the cost spreadsheets to see if they are still financially viable and it's likely some of them will have to be postponed, unless there are other corporate sponsors.”

Mr Gardiner said the railway is very much open to hearing from local businesses who want to get involved.

“Funding like this has a multiplier effect in the local economy. Our social value works out that for every £1 spent at the railway, between £6 and £8 is generated in the wider town economy,” he said.

The chairman said while a number of the railway’s funding bids were rejected, he doesn't know what the decision-making process involves.

“While community projects might not be as headline-grabbing as big festivals, they’re more effective in attracting visitors to the area,” said Mr Gardiner.

He said the rejection of the events funding application is a blow to volunteers as it comes straight off the back of the news that more than 50% of the flood relief monies for Downpatrick have been returned to Stormont. 

“We had calculated that the cost of our repairs following the floods could be between £2m and £3m million and to hear that over £5m of the flood relief scheme went unspent and is being returned to Stormont – and you have no way of accessing this – it just makes you feel helpless,” said Mr Gardiner.

He said he’s currently trying to pull together a grant application for repair work to the railway’s bridges following the flood damage.

The chairman continued: “We're still trying to get on our feet and the railway is starting to look a bit tired. We are finding fences are rotting at their bases as they've never dried out, while various bits of plant, such as our diggers and tools, still get faults developing as a direct result.

“I'm also trying to get costings to send some of our stock away for professional overhaul and that will need to come out of our own resource, which the special events we were planning to run would usually fund.”

Mr Gardiner added: “We might be operational again, but there's still a huge mountain of work ahead of us and our local government just doesn't seem to be able or willing to help.”

The Recorder asked Newry, Mourne and Down Council what the total events budget was, how many applicants were successful and if an appeal mechanism was in place?

A spokeswoman said the information will be available on the local authority’s website when Call One of the process is fully completed and all approvals for the revenue are in place.

She added: “All stage two unsuccessful applicants have been advised of the process on how to request a debrief and an appeal.”