Write a comment
A new community-based watchdog group 'Council Watch: Newry, Mourne and Down' has claimed that Newry, Mourne and Down District Council has breached mandatory planning regulations, after delivering neighbour notification letters on 28th May 2025 in connection with their flagship Civic Hub application.
Council though have strongly refuted any claim of maladministration, saying that they are satisfied that the application "has been progressed in accordance with statutory requirements".
Planning expert Andy Stephens who is representing Newry Cathedral Parish to fight the decision to build the Civic Hub beside the Cathedral, has described the handling of the multi-million pound project as creating "a further chronology of processing irregularities" and demonstrating "a complete shambles."
The Civic Hub planning application has appeared at several planning meetings and has been deferred each time. In the latest case the application was supposed to be considered at a 30 May planning meeting but it was postponed at the eleventh hour to 19 June.
The group claim that Article 8(1) of the Planning (General Development Procedure) Order (Northern Ireland) 2015, requires mandatory neighbour notification for all planning applications, "yet the Council have presented their Civic Hub application to the Planning Committee on three separate occasions without fulfilling this basic legal requirement."
Stephens said: "The application was presented on 3 occasions to the Planning Committee, and the Council was in breach of Article 8 of the GDPO. I have raised notification and advertising with the Council previously, but was told I was wrong and was ignored."
Four Strikes Against Council
Council Watch: Newry, Mourne and Down claim the Civic Hub application faces four separate breaches of mandatory planning law although Council dispute this.
The group cites:
A Missing Community Consultation – Required report submitted 3 months late
A fee underpayment – Incorrect planning fees paid at application
Inadequate documentation – Key information withheld from planning file
Neighbour Notification Failure – Mandatory publicity requirements ignored
Accountability
The new watchdog group, established to monitor council transparency and accountability, has called for urgent action to address what it describes as systematic failures in due process.
Geoff Ingram, spokesperson for Council Watch: Newry, Mourne and Down said: "These breaches reflect the same pattern of systemic maladministration that we have seen in major council projects across the entire district. The community is demanding that elected representatives hold the management to account for their repeated failures."
'One Rule for Council, Another for Everyone Else'
Andy Stephens delivered a scathing assessment: "No other applicant in this Council area has had such a 'red carpet' treatment. This is a case in point of one rule for the Council and one rule for other applicants. Total prejudice to other applicants."
He added: "How can the Council have made such an utter mess of their own application, and yet continue to think it can be bulldozered through, but that it is not pre-determination!"
Stephens stated: "The Council are incredibly naïve in their approach, as all this does is create a further chronology of processing irregularities with this application, and an audit trail of prevention of public access to basic information."
The consultant, who has handled hundreds of planning cases, described the situation as unique: "In my 18 years of practising planning, this is simply sensational."
Stephens concluded "Members of the Planning Committee can have no faith in this application or process, and must surely be looking at a vote of no confidence, as this is a complete shambles, as the chronology demonstrates."
Full Compliance
Newry, Mourne and Down District Council strongly refute these claims. In a reply to Newry.ie a spokesperson said "Newry, Mourne and Down District Council is satisfied that the planning application for the Civic Hub has been progressed in accordance with statutory requirements. The application remains under consideration by the Planning Committee and any outstanding matters raised will be addressed through the proper planning process. The Council strongly refutes claims of maladministration and will continue to ensure full compliance with planning legislation."
