BBCNewry, Mourne and Down District Council’s plan to move the Mourne Gondola project from Newcastle to Rostrevor will not be supported by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA).
Minister Andrew Muir said he has “serious concerns about the potential impact the project would have on environmentally sensitive areas”.
The council’s proposal to move the project from Newcastle to Rostrevor was confirmed in May after the National Trust said it would not be leasing land on Slieve Donard for the scheme.
The cable car ride aims to attract 350,000 visitors each year.
In a statement on Wednesday, Muir said he “greatly values Rostrevor forest and its role within the wider landscape context”.
It added that given the minister’s concerns, “the Department is not in a position to support the council’s proposal for the project to be constructed at Rostrevor forest”.
“Minister Muir greatly values highly the work undertaken to date by Newry, Mourne and Down District Council in partnership with Forest Service and he wishes to see such collaboration continue,” the statement said.
The council said in May that the new cable car route was yet to be determined but confirmed it would not pass through the ancient oak woodland in Rostrevor.
Although a council press release did not state a proposed route for the ride at Rostrevor, a number of sources told BBC NI that they believed the preferred terminus to be in the vicinity of a landmark called Cloughmore (the Big Stone).
The cable car or gondola plan is officially known as the Mourne Mountains Gateway project.
Newry, Mourne and Down CouncilWhat is the cost of the gondola project?
The BBC revealed last month that spending on the gondola project has reached £1.35m before construction has begun.
The original plan for the £44m project would have involved the development of a 1km cable car structure and a mountainside visitors’ centre on Slieve Donard.
The previous route would have carried passengers 230m up from Donard Park in Newcastle to a disused quarry.
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.
In relation to the use of Slieve Donard land, the National Trust said the project should not go ahead in light of the “fragile and threatened” state of the Mourne landscape.
No amended costings or route have since been provided by the council in relation to the Rostrevor plan.
BBC News NI has contacted Newry, Mourne and Down District Council for comment.
