Knocknacarra supermarket plans bite the dust for good

Controversial plans for a Lidl supermarket off the Western Distributor Road look set to be permanently off the cards, after councillors voted to change the zoning of the site at a meeting on the Draft City Development plan.

For a saga that has been dragging on for years, it took less than one minute for members to decide that the submission made by Florence Thomas and Martin Flaherty had some merit.

They had requested that the lands at the junction of the Western Distributor Road and Ballymoneen Road be rezoned from CI (Commercial and Industrial) to R (residential).

They further sought to remove altogether, or move, the ‘neighbourhood centre specific’ designation to other CI-zoned lands north of the roundabout.

“There is significant CI zoned lands in Knocknacarra area of more suitable scale, at more suitable locations,” the submission stated.

“In light of previous refusals from An Bord Pleanala, it is unlikely that CI-type development would proceed at this site. The demand and need for a neighbourhood centre has not been justified and, should this designation be retained, a preferred location would be the adjacent CI-zoned site, which has good street presence.”

The City Council’s Chief Executive, Brendan McGrath, partly supported the submission on the two-acre site.

“The amendment is recommended to rezone lands from CI to R, with local centre designation,” his response stated.

Cllr Donal Lyons proposed a motion accepting these recommendations, which was seconded by Cllr Mike Crowe. Eleven members voted in favour, with none against, and none abstaining – although seven were absent from the Chamber at the time.

Local centre designation allows for small shop units – such as a newsagent, bookmakers’, pharmacy etc – but not major retail.

Last winter, An Bord Pleanála overruled one of its own inspectors by refusing permission for the controversial €2 million Lidl supermarket on the site – this was the second time in as many years.

The Board said there was no justification for a discount supermarket at this location, and that it would seriously injure the visual amenity of the area. The plans to install the discount supermarket on the site had met with huge opposition from local residents – a series of objections to the application were lodged, as well as a petition with more than 130 signatures.

Less than 18 months after An Bord Pleanála turned down the initial application, Ms Thomas made an almost identical one for a single storey mono-pitch roofed discount foodstore with off licence over a gross floor area of 1,894 square metres (net retail area of 1,271 sq m), as well as 100 parking spaces.

It was RGDATA – the small retailers’ representative group – that appealed Galway City Council’s decision to the planning appeals board.

It expressed concerns about “the proliferation of planned and permitted convenience stores” in the western suburbs of the city in recent years, and that the cumulative effect of retail developments posed a “real threat to the future vitality and viability of the city centre.”