People Before Profit Newry representative Marc Mac Seáin has called for a halt to the plans for the development of Newry Civic Centre.
McShane said:
“To describe the proposed £17m Civic Centre in Newry as ‘controversial’ would put it mildly. Describing the affair as yet another costly mess for NMDDC is more appropriate.
Throughout this entire consideration a littany of rational objections have been raised to & ignored by the typically bullish local council.
Blunder after blunder is revealed with this costly development, so we say the council should listen to their residents and halt it.
“Starting with the costs. NMDDC is pushing the Civic Centre alongside the new Arts Centre as a whopping £40m “investment” for Newry. The Belfast City Region Deal is touted as bearing the brunt of these costs, yet a look under the PR reveals only £8m coming from that deal – the rest will be paid out through your rates locally!
This is the same council which brought in charges for parking at Slieve Gullion & Kilbroney as a “necessary” revenue raising initiative.
Researching through local media reports on the Civic Centre, the cost has steadily risen year on year from £7m in 2019 to somehow over double that figure at £17m in 2025.
“The Council has boasted the “harmonious” designs of the Civic Centre will increase footfall, disabled parking & a significant boost to the local retail sector. A report comissioned through Deloitte in 2018 in-fact stated the planned Centre would have “no measurable economic impact in respect of retail businesses”. Rather than increasing parking, specifically even disabled parking, the Centre will result in an acknowledged net lose of almost 1k parking spaces. The size of the building is another topic of reasonably scrutiny. The top floor of the 3 story building has reportedly no tenant. Staff numbers have significantly lowered from those claimed in plans from 287 to 215, with 15 square metres of space provisioned per each staff member. This all of-course failing to taken into account how work patterns (including work-from-home) have changed particularly since Covid.
“Legal & administrative issues have been abound for the project. Alarming news from a planning consultant within the last couple of days reveal the entire venture may be invalid, ‘doomed’ due to an incorrectly paid planning application fee. In Nov 2024 a local government spending watchdog wrote to NMDDC raising concerns at the cost of the Civic Centre which they calculated to be £20m. Independent Councillor Jarlath Tinnelly commented that management of the project was “one of the most pecular processes” witnessed in a decade as a councillor, and went on to warn there’d very likely be a legal challenge against the development bringing it to a Judicial Review.
“It should also be mentioned there are murmours that this Civic Building development may conflict with & prevent plans for a much needed nearby Primary Care Centre for SHSCT which is similarly under consideration at the moment. Given the spiralling state of healthcare across the North, if this conflict is indeed true it would be rank incompetence to proceed with the plans for the Civic Centre as they stand.
“2.6k local people objected to the Civic Centre development, which the council has ploughed on past. On the streets of Newry or in the surrounding area it is nigh-on-impossible to find someone enthused by the plans. It’s a bizarre mystery that council management and local political parties such as Sinn Féin and SDLP remain resolute about ramming it through in spite of all the above information, and obvious competency failures. Recently NMDDC administration has had the embarrasment of another extremely costly white elephant being blocked due to community campaigning in Newcastle, with the planned £56m Gondola. The Albert Basin Park, Save Our Donard & SOS Daisy Hill campaigns have reminded us of the power held by masses of people even on local issues.
“In PBP, as socialists we argue local people must begin organising together politically & through their trade unions to form coalitions which will rightly challenge political neglect, austerity & exploitation of working people. The current socio-economic status quo doesn’t provide for people or our environment in Newry, South Armagh, South Down or across Ireland. Issues like with the Mourne Gondola, Civic Centre, Albert Basin Park, Daisy Hill Hospital, Lough Neagh all show us the contempt communities are treated with but also a template for how to stand up against that, we just need to nit these causes and others together to achieve an equitable, sustainable society.”
ENDS
CLANRYE NEWS 