Council faces ‘potential waste of a million pounds’ on gondola project, meeting hears

Newry, Mourne and Down District Council (NMDDC) is set to be put at its “biggest risk ever” with further concerns raised over the recouping of money already spent on the planned Newcastle tourist attraction.

Last week, the National Trust refused to grant the local authority a lease at Thomas’ Quarry in order to facilitate the £44m plans for a gondola ride between two tourist centres in Newcastle.

The council confirmed at Thursday’s (May 8) audit committee that it will hold a special meeting in the coming weeks to update its corporate risk.

Rowallane DUP rep, Callum Bowsie told the meeting: “My main concern is the gondola, in relation to the failure to deliver a capital investment programme for the district and looking at the potential root cause.

“I would have expected on the corporate risk register that there would be more of a narrative about the risk and what is going to happen. There is still potential risk in there.

“We are talking about the potential waste of a million pounds from the council on this. How much has the council already spent on the gondola project to date?”

He added: “What assurance was received from the National Trust that would demonstrate the gondola project had a fair expectation of progressing before spending commenced? What action will the council take to recoup the money spent on the gondola project from the National Trust?

“The Belfast Region City Deal (BRCD) money was secured by the DUP from the confidence and supply agreement and it would be disappointing to see it lost in NMDDC and for our ratepayers. What steps have been taken to see if the £30m BRCD funding can be secured by council for other projects in the district?”

In 2017, following a general election, the Conservatives agreed a ‘confidence and supply’ deal with DUP to have its support in key votes. The Conservatives’ 318 MPs and the 10 DUP MPs together made up more than half the MPs in the House of Commons to secure a government.

In return, the Westminster Government was to spend an extra £1bn on Northern Ireland, which according to the DUP led to the BRCD funding pot for major council projects.

The Mourne Mountain project was supported by £30m through the BRCD with the rest from NMDDC including any other costs.

When completed the tourist attraction was projected to see over 365,000 visitors a year, however the National Trust, which owns the lands on the Mourne Mountains, suddenly pulled out over environmental concerns.

A council officer responded: “Costs, from inception we don’t have that detail as this goes back to 2017, but that is something we can collate through finance and come back to the audit committee with that figure.

“I would like to have a firm and detailed figure as I don’t want to speculate on the cost incurred up to 1 May. We haven’t received invoicing yet up to that date from consultants.

“One of the conditions of the contract for funding from the Department for the Economy, was that we enter in to a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Trust and that set out the conditions under which they would consider a lease and how they would work in partnership with the council in order to get to that position. And that allowed a contract for funding to be agreed and signed.

“I would not be in a position to answer how money would be recouped, that would be a matter for council when the facts have been gathered. It’s only been a week since the National Trust made its decision. We have engaged this week already with BRCD partners and we have further meetings tomorrow (May 9). I hope to have a clearer view of how to secure the funding then.”

The chamber heard from the independent chairperson, Brona Slevin who suggested the risk rate would go up to “level 25”, which according to the audit report chart is “gross/inherent risk”.

Mournes SDLP cllr, Laura Devlin added: “We are all acutely aware of the major risk we have hanging over us all. I know we got a significant update 14 months ago, whenever there was a discussion around alternatives and if we did want to go down that route we would have to go back to the beginning of the process.

“There has been so much work that has gone on over the past number of months and years to get us to where we are, I am definitely deeply concerned and hope that we can get a project to retain the money.

“But, definitely in terms of that risk, it is the biggest risk that I have ever seen or encountered in council. I look forward to the officers’ report following the meeting with the Department for the Economy and move forward.”

The committee chairperson proposed a special audit meeting to be held in the next number of weeks ahead of the next scheduled date in July with a debate to be held at the next strategy, policy and resources committee next week.