Hypermarket decision looms as deadline met

Date Published: 22-Nov-2012

BY ENDA CUNNINGHAM

A decision on the proposed €15 million Tesco ‘hypermarket’ is due from city planners shortly before Christmas, after a substantial volume of further information was submitted to City Hall yesterday evening.

A series of reports and other documentation were sent to the planning office shortly before the 4pm deadline yesterday, and a decision is now due from planners on December 19, unless they seek clarification on the vast submission.

Last August, planners extended the original decision date until November 19, following a request by Tesco’s architects on the grounds that significant technical information was requested by city planners.

Almost 80 submissions – a number of which were very lengthy and detailed – were received by the Council to the controversial plan to build the new shopping centre on land owned by former Fianna Fáil Mayor Micheál Ó hUigínn off the Seamus Quirke Road.

The massive 7,000 square metre store will include a supermarket and will also stock clothing, footwear, electrical goods, hardware and gardening equipment.

It will be developed by Mr Ó hUigínn, with an overall investment in the region of €15m and is expected to take around 18 months to build.

Mr Ó hUigínn has previously pointed out that the development would see 150 jobs created during the construction phase and 250 more full- and part-time jobs when the superstore is up and running.

Tesco are understood to have already signed a ‘Heads of Agreement’ for a long-term lease on the new building from Mr Ó hUigínn.

Many objections were lodged against the application – including from small retailers representative group RGDATA, which claimed the hypermarket would “hoover up businesses within a 20km radius” and that it would cause a net job loss in the area, despite the creation of 250 jobs.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.