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Planning permission has been granted to convert a stately home in County Down into a luxury hotel.

Infrastructure Minister John O'Dowd approved the application for Mourne Park House in Kilkeel.

Mr O'Dowd said that having considered the evidence he believed the development would "bring significant economic and social benefits to the Mourne area".

The house is the ancestral home of the earls of Kilmorey.

The current owner, Marion Russell, has long had plans for a hotel project.

Last year, Newry, Mourne and Down District Council's planning committee rejected a recommendation that the project should be refused.

But because the Department for Communities' Historic Environment Division also objected to the plans the application was "called-in" by the infrastructure minister.

The plan includes a spa, function room and restaurant through the refurbishment of the existing listed private residence, which was damaged by fire in 2013.

It also includes the addition of a new build extension.

The 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.

Needham was an army officer turned politician, who is best remembered for the military defence he mounted in County Wicklow during the 1798 Irish rebellion.

The Kilmorey family's main estate was in Shropshire, England, but they used Mourne Park as their holiday home.

They threw lavish parties on the County Down estate, hosting royalty and many high-profile politicians.

During World War Two, the house was used by British and US regiments before they were deployed to France.

In 2021, the Woodland Trust bought 156 hectares of the Mourne Park estate and opened it to visitors earlier this year.

The minister has also granted approval to revised plans for an 83-bedroom hotel in Portrush.

The application is for the redevelopment of the Atlantic Bar and former Londonderry Hotel on Main Street.

The hotel group Andras House first proposed the redevelopment of the site in 2017.

Since then the proposals have been through various iterations with planners seeking a design which is sympathetic to the existing street scale.

Mr O'Dowd said: 'I believe this current proposal for an 83-bed hotel, which retains the original façade and other elements of architectural and historical interest, has the potential to deliver a tourist development which can make a contribution to the local and wider economy."