£18m plan for Giant's Causeway visitor centre submitted

Plans to build an £18m visitor centre at the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland have been submitted by the National Trust.

The Trust hopes to get council approval for the controversial project by the end of the year and to open the centre by summer 2010.

It is to be funded by the Trust and Moyle Council, although an application has been made to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment for a £9m grant.

If planning permission is granted, the centre will be constructed according to a design by Dublin architects, who won an international design competition three years ago.