This article is from page 20 of the 2008-12-16 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 20 JPG
THE owners of Shannon Town Cen- tre have claimed that a proposed €60 million retail park for the town is ‘opportunistic’ and contrary to the provisions of the South Clare Devel- opment Plan.
Last month, Greenband Investment Ltd lodged plans for bulky house- hold goods, discount food-store and neighbourhood centre to include a small convenience store, pharmacy, bookmakers and _ hairdressers at Smithstown, Shannon.
According to developer and one of the partners in the project, Sean Halpin, the development will create
250 direct jobs, 200 indirect jobs and 180 jobs during the construction phase. The retail warehouse park and neighbourhood centre is the first of two phases of this project, with the second phase to comprise of a resi- dential development and plans for de- velopment are to be shortly lodged.
However, the owners of Shannon Town Centre claim that the proposal in its current form “presents a direct challenge to the Shannon core town centre area”.
In a comprehensive submission to Clare County Council, Shannon Town Centre stated that “the pro- posed location for the discount food- store within the retail park 1s incon-
sistent with zoning”.
The submission stated: “In sum- mary, the proposed development is opportunistic in the contest of the draft local area plan and has cherry picked the matrix to maximise retail and commercial advantages.
“No element of the proposed de- velopment reflects the primary zon- ing objective for ‘residential’ on the lands…Effectively, the applicants have ignored the primary land use zoning indicated in the draft South Clare Development Plan.”
The submission claims that Green- band Ltd has “abandoned the resi- dential, open space and street struc- ture” and “cherry picked the matrix
to maximise retail and commercial advantage, as we predicted would happen and have not awaited the im- plementation and delivery protocols, which we were informed would be required before developments would be considered”.
In a separate submission, the Hick- ey family in Smithstown have voiced their opposition to the proposal, stat- ing: “We feel we would be squeezed into an industrial park for life and have no future in our current homes where we’ve lived for 40 plus years, it would hinder the privacy we are accustomed to.”
A decision is due on the plan next year.