Stop Giant's Causeway Golf Complex
- by: Judith B.
- recipient: Alex Attwood, Environment Minister, Northern Ireland
The Giant's Causeway, a stretch of bizarre volcanic rock formations, is one of Ireland's top tourist attractions. Situated at the very top of Northern Ireland, thousands of tourists a year visit the Giant's Causeway for the wild scenery and the mysterious hexagonal rocks.
Friends of the Earth and the National Trust have condemned the proposals, with FoE's Northern Ireland director likening it to "building a drive-through burger bar at the Taj Mahal".
Ruining a major tourist attraction, which is also a World Heritage site, with an enormous golf resort might not seem like a particularly sensible thing to do, but that is exactly is happening.
A proposal to build a huge golf course with accompanying hotel, rental cottages and lighting on dunes of ecological importance nearby has just received the go ahead. Ironically, the argument is the golf complex will attract tourists.
Ask the environment minister not to go ahead with these destructive plans and instead find a more appropriate site for the development.
We the undersigned ask that you reconsider plans to construct a golf complex less than a mile from the Giant's Causeway in north Antrim.
Spoiling Northern Ireland’s major tourist attraction with a golf development is not a particularly well thought-out plan. A golf course with a hotel and cottages can go anywhere in the area, putting it right next to the Giant's Causeway is likely to deter as many visitors as it attracts.
The development site also contains or adjoins sites of conservation and scientific interest, making it an even less suitable place for a golf complex.
We ask that you find a more appropriate and less destructive site for the development.
