£8.1m Already Spent on Newry Southern Relief Road

A total of around £8.1m has already been spent on the proposed Newry Southern Relief Road, an infrastructure project that plans to link the Warrenpoint dual carriageway to the A1 with a road across the Clanrye River and Newry Ship Canal and over Fathom and Flagstaff. The road's main aim is to make it easier to take traffic to and from Warrenpoint Port. The figures include up to the end of the 2024/2025 financial year.

The figure includes circa £7.3m development costs including topographical surveys, archaeological and ground investigation works and circa £800,000 land costs. The scheme is expected to cost £110m to £130m but only £93.4m has been awarded from the Belfast Region City Deal pot.

The figures were released following a question looking for details of all preparatory works and their cost from Newry and Armagh MLA Justin McNulty to Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins.

Minister Kimmins gave web address newry-southern-relief-road as the location to find out about the preparatory work.

A controversial part of the project is the proposed building of a 12m fixed bridge over Newry Ship Canal. Even though  the owners of the canal Newry, Mourne and Down District Council have officially expressed their opposition to the fixed bridge the Department for Infrastructure are forging ahead with their plans, something that will bring to an end almost 300 years of maritime history in Newry.

Mr McNulty also asked the Minister for an update on when the findings of the Newry Southern Relief Road public consultation would be published, findings that include opposition to the fixed bridge. The consultation closed 4 March 2025 and the Minister said she doesn't wish to commit to a timescale for publication.

Minister Kimmins said "My department received a number of detailed representations as part of the consultation process, and my officials are working through the information to ensure that all comments are considered as part of a report for my consideration. 

"To ensure that each representation is appropriately reviewed for this important scheme, I would not wish to commit to a timescale for publication. Instead, I would like to take the necessary time to consider the report in detail before making any announcement on the next steps for the Newry Southern Relief Road scheme."