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Mournes gondola project costs reach nearly £1.35m

Cormac Campbell
BBC News NI south east reporter
Newry, Mourne and Down Council An artists impression of what the gondola could look like. It is a modernistic building on stilts perched on the side of a mountain. Cable cars are seen travelling to and from it.Newry, Mourne and Down Council
Planned gondolas would have taken visitors up to a centre at Northern Ireland's highest mountain

Spending on the Mourne Gondola project has reached £1.35m before construction has begun, the BBC can reveal.

The Northern Ireland Audit Office is monitoring developments in relation to the cable car ride which aims to attract 350,000 visitors each year.

Last month it was confirmed that Newry, Mourne and Down District Council was planning to move the project from Newcastle to Rostrevor after the National Trust said it would not be leasing land on Slieve Donard for the scheme.

BBC News NI asked the council to provide a breakdown of expenditure from 2017, when the Strategic Outline Case and Outline Business Case (OBC) for the project was developed, until 31 March of this year.

Where is the money coming from?

Newry, Mourne and Down Council confirmed that a total of £1,349,118.74 has been spent.

This includes £122,405 on pre-OBC costs, £218,840 on OBC development, and £1,007,873.74 on ICT Fees.

A further breakdown of expenditure was refused by the council on confidentiality of commercial or industrial information grounds.

The Newcastle project was expected to cost £44m, with £30m coming from the Belfast Region City Deal and the balance from the council.

It would have involved the development of a 1km cable car structure from Donard Park up to a disused quarry.

The National Trust has said the project should not go ahead in light of the "fragile and threatened" state of the Mourne landscape.

A view of Cloughmore (the Big Stone) from Slieve Martin, overlooking Carlingford Lough and the Cooley Mountains in the distance. Cloughmore is a huge boulder that sits on the slope of the mountain.
A possible route in Rostrevor could be in the vicinity of Cloughmore (the Big Stone)

No amended costings or route have since been provided by the council in relation to the Rostrevor plan.

Supporters of the project say it would drive tourism and the local economy with the potential of attracting up to 350,000 visitors a year.

Opponents have raised environmental concerns as well questioning whether local access roads could accommodate that many visitors or whether the project would indeed attract that many people in the first place.

Newry Mourne and Down Council An artists impression of what the gondola could look like. It is a modernistic building on stilts perched on the side of a mountain. Cable cars are seen travelling to and from it.Newry Mourne and Down Council
It was estimated that the scheme would attract about 350,000 annual visitors

Audit Office monitoring project

In a statement issued to BBC News NI, the NI Audit Office said: "A number of issues regarding the Mourne Gateway Project have been raised with NIAO.

"The local government auditor continues to monitor developments and is keeping the matter under consideration."

BBC News NI contacted a number of local councillors in relation to the matter.

Some said they had not been contacted by the audit office.

One councillor confirmed that a number of councillors had spoken to the audit office in relation to the project after the withdrawal of the National Trust, with governance and transparency concerns discussed.

The council has been contacted for comment.