Shopping centre café is just the cup of tea for planners

Claims were made that the provision of a new café at the Westside Shopping Centre would reduce parking and give rise to safety issues.

A decision by Galway City Council to grant planning permission for a free-standing café at the shopping centre last November became the subject of an appeal to An Bord Pleanála.

However, the higher planning authority affirmed the decision of the City Council’s planners stating that the site’s location adjacent to a quality bus corridor would not create a traffic hazard or seriously injure the visual amenity of the area.

The anchor tenant at Westside Shopping Centre, Dunnes Stores were among those who appealed the decision to An Bord Pleanála stating that there were already adequate food establishments on site.

Permission for the café was granted to Hurley Property ICAV for a single storey free-standing café with access from the existing shopping centre car park at the Westside Shopping Centre on Séamus Quirke Road.

Planning was subject to 11 conditions being complied with and among those was a requirement that no advertisement structures be erected other than those granted as part of the planning application.

But the decision to grant planning for the café was the subject of an appeal from Dunnes Stores along with other business owners Susan Corbett, Peter Murphy Electrical, St Anthony and Claddagh Credit Union, Newsweek Newsagency, Hair Republic, Evergreen Health Food, McSharry’s Pharmacy, Divilly’s Butchers, Rose Garden Restaurant and the Driving Test Centre.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.

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