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Planning Permission has been granted for the proposed 15 acre Newry City park at the Albert Basin site. The decision was made at today's 2 September Newry, Mourne and Down District Council, Planning Committee meeting in Downpatrick.
Newry City Councillor Valerie Harte proposed that council adopt the planning officers recommendation to approve the park application and Crotlieve Councillor Declan McAteer seconded it, with all 10 councillors unanimously agreeing. The application was submitted in April 2025 and today's decision marks a major step forward in the provision of Newry's long awaited and much needed park.
Councillors were unanimous in approving the decision to pass the application but as part of procedure the decision will be forwarded to the Department for Infrastructure for final review.
Cllr Harte said: "Just happy to propose the officers' recommendations, and this is a brilliant day for Newry, getting City Park over the line."
Cllr Declan McAteer commended council staff and the Planning section for their work in getting the application to this stage and added: "I second that with great gusto. I think it's a wonderful day for Newry and us that live outside Newry as well, I think we'll all benefit from this."
Slieve Croob Councillor Helena Young added: "Declan stole my thunder because I was hoping to second. But I just wanted to say that it's fantastic to be here today when this is happening, and thank you to you guys. I've been part of the stakeholder group as well for a number of years with a voluntary group I'm with. So I know the 10 million hurdles that had to be jumped to get here, and obviously the public were frustrated, but they don't understand the complexities of of what it took to get here. So yeah, so just fingers crossed that we're we're on the run now, and hopefully we'll get on site very soon."
Crotlieve Councillor Jarlath Tinnelly queried why it was required to forward the decision to DfI for final review, to which a council official explained: "The reason why it would have to go back to the Department of Infrastructure is a matter of procedure. Firstly, it's a council application, so the council is the applicant, and also because it's going against the area plan because there is a land zone in there and there is key site requirements. And whilst there is a justifiable position for that, that also has to be set out to the Department of Infrastructure."
Before the Council's decision to build a 15 acre park on the Albert Basin site, the 2015 Banbridge, Newry and Mourne Area Plan had set out requirements of the site to include a minimum of 40 dwellings and canal and river facing frontages of at least two storeys and vehicular access from the Warrenpoint Road, so planning had to justify why it was necessary to change this, ie the benefits of the park.
The official pointed out that the planning department have completed a full assessment against the area plan. "While the planning department do acknowledge the proposals do not fully meet the requirements of the development opportunity land zoning and associated key site requirement, it has nevertheless taken account the justification for proposals and weighed up the delivery of a city park with significant community, recreational, tourism, health and well-being, environmental and regeneration benefits in Newry City Centre. These benefits are considered to represent a substantial material consideration in support of the proposal to warrant approval for the scheme. The reasons for this are set out within the planning report."
Planning Committee chairperson Cllr Mickey Larkin commended the planning department: "The amount of consultations on this report is just incredible and to have satisfied them all is a credit to the planning department."
Last to speak was Mournes Councillor Henry Reilly emphasised the importance of engaging with the boating fraternity. "The boat launching facility is really important that the council consults with the boating fraternity to make sure they get it right, because the last one that they done was in Annalong and it turned out a disaster."
Newry, Mourne and Down District Council’s Outline Business Case (OBC) for the park was approved by the Department for Communities in December 2023 and a Contract for Funding issued opening access to £16.2 million from the Executive’s City/Growth Deal Complementary fund. The Council is also providing £2.4 million to deliver the park.
It is expected that the park will be complete in 2028.
The full proposal is for:
City Park (Public Open Space) comprising: waterside walkway; pedestrian and cycle paths throughout site; biodiversity trail; urban sports facility (incorporating pump track and skate park); toilet building (incorporating changing places facility and ancillary office and 9 kWp PV panels to roof); play park facility (to cater for multiple age groups and levels of ability); central plaza area; boat launching slipway; floating pontoon and access ramp; watersports building (incorporating boat storage, meeting room, changing and shower facilities and 14 kWp PV panels to roof); 3No. canopy sun/rain shelters; water sports storage area; maintenance building; arboretum walk (comprising native tree and shrub species); natural play area; southern plaza area; associated car parking, overspill/temporary car parking and drop off areas; 2No. dual EV charging points; cycle stands; connection to greenway; park lighting; CCTV (pole and building mounted); quay/canal wall restorations (including in-situ preservation of existing mooring rings, stone bollards and metal posts); ancillary park infrastructure (bollards, gates, fences, railings, benches/seating, bins, interpretation boards, historical markers/feature trail locations); 315kVA electrical substation; and all associated site works, infrastructure, and landscaping.
