Planning permission has been granted to convert a stately home in County Down into a luxury hotel
BBC News NI Economics & Business EditorInfrastructure Minister John O'Dowd approved the application for Mourne Park House in Kilkeel.
Last year, Newry, Mourne and Down District Council's planning committee rejected a recommendation that the project should be refused. The plan includes a spa, function room and restaurant through the refurbishment of the existing listed private residence, which wasThe architect acting for Marion Russell said the hotel would create 120 full-time jobs and bring 55,000 visitors to the area annually.The current house was rebuilt in 1806, on the instructions of its then owner Francis Needham, who later became the first earl of Kilmorey.
The Kilmorey family's main estate was in Shropshire, England, but they used Mourne Park as their holiday home.