Cable car plan for Mourne Mountains

Cable car plan for Mourne Mountains

28 March 2012 - by Ciara Colhoun

AMBITIOUS plans to create a gondola ride from Newcastle into the Mourne Mountains have been revealed.

The Department for Social Development is proposing the development of the cable-car system, from Donard Park up Drinahilly Mountain, as part of the wider regeneration of the area’s coastal towns through the South East Cost Masterplan.

The gondola system is based on a similar transport system on the Nevis Range in Scotland and would be designed as a major tourist attraction.

Drinahill Mountain is one of the lower peaks on the Newcastle side of the Mournes on which the large television mast is clearly visible.

The Down Recorder last week revealed plans for a new transport system, which would be the first such link into the Mournes.

It is the most ambitious proposal within the masterplan, which was officially launched in Newcastle last Wednesday and which gives guidance about ways to improve tourist appeal in the area over the next 20 years.

The plan, which bills Newcastle as a “21st century seaside resort”, will be subject to public consultation for the next 11 weeks.

A spokesman from the Department for Social Development yesterday confirmed that the mountain proposal was based on the Nevis Range Gondola in Scotland, which he said “was a very successful attraction.”

“The concept is based on this idea and would obviously need more work done on the detail of its route and minimising disruption and visual impact, while at the same time providing the optimum views for tourists of the coast and mountains,” he said.

Social Development Minister Mr. Nelson McCausland said he believed the draft masterplan provided an “ambitious but realistic vision of how the South East Coast can make the best use of its assets and secure its ongoing success and prosperity.”

Mr. Martin Carey, chief executive of Mourne Heritage Trust, which was established to protect the Mourne Mountains, said the gondola proposal will be discussed tonight at the Trust’s board meeting.

He said the proposal was likely to be scrutinised by the Trust during the consultation process for the South East Coast Masterplan.

“On the face of it, this is the proposal that would look like it may have most impact on the high Mournes and in that context it is probably one that will attract our attention more so than the urban-based proposals,” he said.