This article is from page 10 of the 2006-08-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 10 JPG
THE commercial growth of Ennis continues, with plans lodged for a €25 million retail development at Claureen on the town’s western fringes.
Tom Howard is seeking permission to demolish the One Mile Inn and construct a mixed use development of 11,895 sq metres in total.
A retail impact statement submitted with the planning application estimates that the development will have an annual turnover of €25 million each year.
The development will include retail units, a car showroom, an office-medical centre, and a café bar and restaurant. It also includes 15 residential units and a crèche, along with the provision of 566 car-parking spaces.
In lodging plans, consultants acting for Tom Howard state: “The attached planning application is requesting planning permission for a high quality, architecturally designed mixeduse development at a local centre.
The consultants point out that the town council’s planning department “has not raised any major issues with the scheme and have been broadly supportive of the principles of same” in pre-planning discussions .
The retail impact statement states, “The amount of retail space available in the catchment area is seriously inadequate to absorb even conservative estimates of shopping expenditure”.
It also points out that, while Ennis town centre is the main centre within the catchment area, “it is widely perceived that the town centre is lacking in convenience and high order comparison outlets.
“The development proposed under this application will not be in competition with Ennis town centre but will service a local catchment area in addition to the western hinterland of Ennis in terms of bulky goods.
“The lack of and nature of retail provision at present in the immediate area ensures that a considerable leakage of retail spend seeps out of the catchment area to other areas such as Limerick city. This proposal will help to reverse this leakage.”
The retail impact statement also points out that the “proposal will facilitate local people to do their shopping in a more convenient place to where they live and it will facilitate multi-functional trips.
“Therefore, the granting of this retail planning proposal would be of significant advantage to the retail sector and most importantly to the consumer.”
A decision is due on the application later this year.