Politicians voice frustration over National Trust decision

Politicians voice frustration over National Trust decision

24 September 2025

THE frustration of local politicians over how the National Trust made its decision not to back the Mournes Gateway Project before consultants had completed an environmental impact study was palpable at Monday night’s special meeting of Newry, Mourne and Down Council.

There was also concern that senior council officials were given a 20-minute warning that a press release confirming the decision was being issued, with the majority of councillors learning about it via the media.

Council chief executive Marie Ward said the local authority had a limited window of time to inform councillors about the Trust’s decision. 

During the meeting, questions were asked about the council’s future working relationship with the National Trust.

The Trust was asked if it was “panicked” into a making decision on the gondola project, had it succumbed to political pressure and had the organisation’s integrity suffered as a result of its dealings with the council on the multi-million pound project?

The Trust vehemently denied the assertions.

Cllr Pete Byrne said there was disappointment that a “report compiled by the Trust was the only document” on which it made its decision and that the charity had not waited for the council-commissioned environmental impact report to be published.

He said the issue had been turned into a political football and it was wrong to suggest some parties were in favour of the gondola and some were not.

“That simply wasn’t the case and I can’t stress that enough,” he said. “It was to move to a point to get information for us to make an informed decision whether to go with it or go against it.

“We moved to an environmental impact report and the Trust was aware we were doing that. Why not wait until that report was back, which was a matter of weeks away, and we could have all the information, look at it holistically and come to a decision?”

Cllr Byrne said it was agreed both parties would operate in good faith, but the charity’s decision to pull the plug left no time to notify councillors before it became public.

“The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between both sides in terms of communication was not respected,” he declared.

“We know there is damage in terms of footfall across the Mournes. We need to engage with each other and this was nearly a blame game and that is frustrating.

“When you talk about alternative projects I’d love to keep the £30m [City Deal funding] in this area and work on something we can mutually agree on. But I don’t have that trust because of the process we went through.”

Cllr Byrne added: “There has to be respect on both sides. i think the Trust’s decision should have come through council and we should have been informed.”

The charity’s assistant Northern Ireland Director, Jonny Clarke, said he shared Cllr Byrne’s frustration.

“This is an incredibly complex project and yes there have been frustrations on both sides,” he said.

Mr Clarke said the Trust did not wait for the council’s report and went with the information it had.

“We found some aspects frustrating in that we were not quite sure when various reports were happening and that is one of the reasons we highlighted the RSK report which we had a significant input into in 2022,” he said. 

Mr Clarke said the Donard Nature Recovery report suggested the signifcant environmental risk the gondola project would have and contained information which enabled the charity to make an informed decision.

Roger McKenna, the Trust’s senior estate manager, said it was the outcome of the Donard report that really crystallised internally that the mountain wasn’t capable, the risk of the footfall that was on the mountain, never mind the additional footfall that would come.’

Cllr Callum Bowsie said the Mournes Gateway Project provided an opportunity to invest £44m into Newcastle and showcase the Mournes in a controlled manner.

He argued a carefully designed project could have managed visitors better, which was why everyone should have waited for evidence via the council’s environmental assessment report.

“The Trust wanted the environmental assessment but pulled the plug on the gondola before it had that evidence.It’s shameful,”,  he added.

Council dirctor, Conor Mallon, said information was shared with the National Trust which included projected visitor numbers and details not made available were of a confidential or commercial nature.