A judge today gave the all clear for work to begin on a controversial £100 million golf course development near the famous Giant’s Causeway on Ulster’s north coast.
Mr Justice Weatherup dismissed a legal challenge by the National Trust which claimed the project could have a serious impact on the Unesco designated world heritage site.
More than a decade after the initial planning application was lodged, the High Court judge in Belfast endorsed last year’s decision by the Northern Ireland minister of environment Alex Attwood to give the go-ahead for a championship golf course and five star hotel to be built outside the village of Bushmills, County Antrim, about a mile-and-a-half from the Causeway, one of the country’s main tourist attractions.