Revealed: Company plans to build water park with inland beach in disused old Northern Irish quarry

A disused quarry in rural mid-Ulster could be turned into a “recreational water park” according to documents the News Letter has come across.
An image from the blueprints of the plans on the publicly available Planning Portal online, showing an inflatable obstacle courseAn image from the blueprints of the plans on the publicly available Planning Portal online, showing an inflatable obstacle course
An image from the blueprints of the plans on the publicly available Planning Portal online, showing an inflatable obstacle course

The blueprints show that the applicant is a company called Splash (Ireland) Ltd, and that the park would be based on land just to the north-east of Moneymore.

It is currently listed as being a “vacant quarry” covering just over seven hectares (almost 18 acres), and a body of water fills part of the site.

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The would-be developers aim to build a “welcome building (with reception, kitchen, storage and ancillary facilities), changing buildings and toilets, soft landscaped space including inland beach, car and bus parking”.

A more detailed view of the wider areaA more detailed view of the wider area
A more detailed view of the wider area

The plans were submitted in March. There is no indication of when a decision on the development will be made.

Details of the scheme have been drawn up by OJQ Architecture.

Director Orin Quigg told the News Letter that up to 25 workers (full time and part time) would stand to be employed by the business, if and when it gets up-and-running.

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It was put to him that there are often government warnings against swimming in quarries, where water can sometimes be very cold (just four days ago agriculture minister Edwin Poots launched what he called the ‘Stone Cold Killer campaign’ to alert the public to “the dangers of swimming in disused quarries”).

Mr Quigg said that when it comes to the Moneymore quarry plans, wetsuits will be provided for swimmers, plus lifejackets, and that lifeguards will be on duty at the park to supervise.

Everyone who comes to the site will be required to pre-book and undergo an induction course – so nobody can just wander in off the street.

He also said the plans is for the park to operate only in the summer months, and activities will be focussed on the shallower ends of the water.

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Half a dozen letters or emails of objection have been received to the plans, with traffic concerns forming a substantial part of the objections.

One resident described the roads in the area as being “third class rural roads [that are] not in a very good state of repair for such a large volume of traffic”.

The developer has pledged to make “public road improvements” as part of the plans.

Mr Quigg said the water was spring-fed and very pure.

He said the site has been defunct for perhaps 20 years or so, adding that it “was just sitting there and not being utilised at all” – and that if it wasn’t for Splash it “probably never would have been utilised” ever again.

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He said: “It’s an exciting project for us to be working on, [and we] have been proud to be a part of it. We’d like to see it open in the very near future.”

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