National Trust's "flashing red status" for "footfall" in the Mournes triggered decision

lBy Donal McMahon

A debriefing on a failed Mourne Mountain Gateway project has left councillors questioning their trust of the National Trust.

Newry, Mourne and Down District Council (NMDDC) held a special meeting with the conservation charity on Monday (Sept 22) with a heated exchange in the chamber.

Elected members raised concerns about the National Trust making its rejection of the £44m gondola project known (May) in the press before telling the council.

However, the local authority was told that the National Trust’s “flashing red status” for “footfall” in the Mournes triggered a decision that had to be made public within 48hrs.

Newry City SDLP councillor, Pete Byrne said:”How going forward, when we had a Memorandum of understanding (MoU), a gentleman’s agreement with yourselves on how we would operate together, how do we trust going forward on alternative projects? ”

“This turned into a political football in my view. Why did you not wait for the council’s EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) report that was weeks away before making your decision?

“I and I know others on the council would have respected a refusal decision more knowing we had all the information before us.”

“You talk about working in good faith. We only heard of the decision when it hit the news that morning at 9.30am, there was absolutely no time to notify councillors. It was difficult for everybody and frustrating.

“I think the MOU was not respected. I would love to work on another project and keep the £30m in the district area, but I don’t have the trust in order to do it because of the process we went through.”

National Trust assistant director of operations, Jonny Clarke responded:”It is an incredibly complex project and some of the communication on both sides has been frustrating.

“I suppose we didn’t wait on the EIA because we had to go with the information we had. We had significant input to the RSK report, and I think that really highlighted some of the absolutely key risks to the future of that project.

“We had reached an information level that was a tipping point for us, four years of evidence, especially looking at environment and ecology issues, and we considered we had the information available to make an informed decision. I do acknowledge there is not a perfect time to make a decision, but the danger is more reports can just recommend more reports”.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) had contacted the National Trust (April 29) to ask if it had any concerns over the Mourne Mountain gondola project after viewing the council’s commissioned ‘Environmental and Ecological Review’ by RSK (Ireland) Ltd (June 2022).

Just days later (1 May), the National Trust refused to grant NMDDC a lease of its lands at Thomas’s Quarry in order to facilitate a gondola ride from Donard Park in Newcastle.

The decision was taken before the council’s own EIA report had been put before the National Trust or councillors.

National Trust senior estate manager, Roger McKenna added: “The MoU was designed around the communication to avoid issues like this.The MoU does require us to respond within 48hrs of coming to a conclusion that the scheme couldn’t go ahead…in order to safeguard any future expenditure to requirement.

“It was the Donard Report (environmental analysis) that really crystallised internally that the mountain wasn’t capable of the footfall that was already on it, never mind the footfall that was going to come.”

The Co Down project first mooted in 2013 as the district’s ‘Giant’s Causeway’ attraction collapsed in May after the landowners (National Trust) refused to grant a lease of its lands at Thomas Quarry.

The local authority’s key ambition for the Mourne Mountains was to construct a cable car or gondola ride, which was supported by £30m through the BRCD (Belfast Region City Deal). The rest of the funding, including any other costs, was to come from NMDDC. When completed, the tourist attraction was predicted to gain over 365,000 visitors a year.

The chamber was told that recovery of the Mournes from recent wildfires and protection of carbon locking peatlands were major factors in the environmental concerns of the National Trust as conservationists.

Crolieve SDLP councillor Declan McAteer told the National Trust that he was “so angry” at the rejection and questioned if the organisation had “panicked….and succumbed to political pressure”.

He said: “You didn’t have the decency or manners to wait (for the EIA).”

Mr Clarke responded by suggesting Councillor McAteer was “using language that is pejorative in nature” and that his “100k membership is bigger than all the political parties in Northern Ireland combined”.

Mournes DUP councillor Henry Reilly reacted by labelling the Trust assistant director’s comments “disgusting” and calling for them to be “retracted.”

He added: “The council should have nothing more to do with the Trust.”

Mournes Sinn Fein councillor Willie Clarke also accused the Alliance Party of objecting to the project by “whipping up the public…on a false narrative”.

Language

NMDDC chairperson, Philip Campbell (Sinn Féin) called the chamber to order with a warning to members on the use of language.

National Trust director, Heather MacLachlan, said: “One of the things in the decision making was something we had done separate to the project itself, which looked at a number of issues in the mountainscape and beyond this.

“And in this is clear guidance that if you are to put more people into the mountainscape, the infrastructure is just not there.

“The analysis of the path network of the higher Mournes at the moment is at flashing red status. And cannot take any more impact.”