Council officials have been put under pressure over claims controversial plans for a £17 million civic centre will boost locals traders.
And at a meeting of Newry, Mourne and Down District Council was told how frail and elderly parishioners at the historic Newry Cathedral are facing 'prejudice' over the plans which the Parish administrator says will leave many of them with no where to park.
The assertions were made as Newry, Mourne and Down District Council (NMDDC) held a predetermination hearing on Wednesday (April 9) to hear final arguments over the Abbey Way construction.
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However, the applicant (NMDDC) has stated the "harmonious" designs will cause increased footfall to the city as well as increased disabled parking.
Mournes DUP rep, Glyn Hanna put questions to both the applicant and the objectors concentrating on the effects of demolishing a multi-storey carpark to make space for the council's HQ.
Agent for the Cathedral Parish, Andy Stevens responded: "The removal of the existing car parking space will prejudice parishioners with mobility issues. The car parking figures presented are a misrepresentation of the actual circumstances on the ground, which amounts to a misdirection.
"It is also noted that the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) has not been consulted on the applicant's findings. A further rebuttal will be submitted in due course as the application remains live until a decision is issued, given that we do not accept HED's findings are balanced or objective."
On 6 March this year, DfI made the decision not to call in the application, without the need to refer to the department's Minister. It was also stated by Mr Stevens that NMDDC uploaded a HED (Historic Environment Division) review of a building consultation report from Consarc Conservation to the NI Planning Portal (Dec 19) after a planning committee meeting (Dec 18). The civic centre plans were approved at that time.
The HED paper, seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) and dated (Dec 9) reads: "HED accepts there is an adverse effect, but that it is not significant as this report states, and that it considers it is acceptable on balance in the environs of a city."
Staff numbers were queried by the objectors due to the blue-print for the three floored council HQ due to have a top floor tenant, with no details who the occupier would be as well as questions over the lowering of council employee numbers.
Mr Stevens added: "The staff numbers to be in the civic centre, the documentation states as 215, but was bandied around previously as 287, so there must have been a few P45s dished out. If there is to be 162 desks provided and we've got two and a half thousand square metres of floor space, that's 15 square metres per member of staff. It just doesn't stack up and nobody in these voluminous documents has dealt with the elephant in the room.
"It's a significant error, to get to this stage in proceedings, we've got a huge floorspace and no one has explained who's in it."
A petition with more than 2,500 objections was presented to the local authority last year with letters from Catholic parishioners, showing their opposition for the construction of the civic centre on a carpark used by Mass-goers at the Cathedral.
NMDDC has previously referred to a parking survey of the Abbey Way site and has amended its HQ plans to provide 138 car park spaces at the site, which it says is above the maximum occupancy rates of mass-goers recorded.
But Parish administrator, Canon Francis Brown told the meeting: "The Cathedral has been ignored, totally. We have a capacity for 1,000 people. We had a recent funeral with 800 in attendance, and they couldn't get parked with the current provision.
"For people to say that the city centre has adequate parking, that is an absolute nonsense, people cannot get parked. Surely to goodness, their religious practice should be upheld for those who come to the Cathedral and we've just been ignored the whole way. The site is not appropriate.
"The Cathedral is the Mother Church for the Diocese of Dromore and how after 200 years any council can decide to ignore the need of the Cathedral, I just fail to understand."
The chamber heard that many of those who regularly attended Mass at the Cathedral were elderly and have mobility issues. The council is planning to lease the nearby North Street car park as a potential pay zone for motorists with consent from land owners the Department for Communities (DfC).
NMDDC has also submitted a proposal for 49 free car park spaces for its staff at Cecil Street close to the Newry Leisure Centre.
Newry SDLP rep, Killian Feehan said: "At the meeting in December 2024, you (applicant's rep) had said the development would provide a significant boost to the local retail sector. I had asked you at that time if you could provide evidence to substantiate that assertion, but you were unable to do so, can you do so today?
"There is a Deloitte report from 2018, that says there would be no measurable economic impact in respect of retail businesses. So, why would you state a significant boost without evidence?"
A rep for the applicant (NMDDC) replied: "We haven't brought any further evidence to the table, because I think the conclusion we had given to that question at the last meeting was the regional policy, is about town centres first, and if you comply with the policy there is no requirement for us to do a retail impact assessment positive or negative.
"It is my opinion there would be a boost and I stand by that."
A council planning officer told the chamber, "it is my professional opinion it (civic centre) would attract repeat footfall".
A (2nd) rep for the applicant added: "There are discussions on third party rental, which has been factored in for accommodation space. There are two disabled spaces in the part of the site we are retaining at Abbey Way, on the site of the civic hub we are creating seven disabled spaces, so overall disabled parking will be nine."
The council's planning committee is due to come to a final decision on the application on April 30.
According to the NMDDC website, the local authority expects construction on the civic centre to begin this year.
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