This article is from page 2 of the 2006-09-26 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
THE chairman of the Clare Association of An Taisce has warned that four large retail parks on the fringes of Ennis will have a negative impact on businesses in the town centre.
Plans for the retail parks are before Clare County Council and An Bord Pleanala. If approved, they could dramatically alter the town’s commercial landscape.
In a submission to Clare County Council, Oliver Moylan said that “if these out-of-town retail centres are allowed to continue, the town centre will be affected. What will happen in the end is the decline of retail shops on the streets and their places will be taken up by solicitors, finance houses, auctioneers and insurance companies”.
There are plans for a €50 million retail park on the Quin Road, a €25 million development at Claureen, Lahinch Road, another park as part of a €50 million development near Clarecastle and another €50 million park on the Clare Road.
“All these will bring about the decline of shopping in the town centre – the consumer choice will be gone. Note, there are five solicitors offices in Parnell Street – fatal for attracting shoppers,” said Mr Moylan, who also operates a business in Ennis town centre.
“In all honesty, do we need another retail park? Are we not overretailed?
“In the Ennis and environs plan 2003, it states that ‘no out-of-town centre retail developments will be allowed unless it can be demonstrated that no other suitable sites are available’. I put it to you that the Ennis area is amply covered in all aspects of retailing, especially with the existing seven centres.
“There are at present virtually seven retail parks in the Ennis area: town centre, Dunnes, Tesco, Aldi, Lidl, Roslevan and the Lynch proposal for the Limerick Road. I really must ask is there a need for another one?
“There is a population of 110,000 in Clare. Of that, only half come into Ennis to shop. The other half, especially those living in south Clare, go to Limerick to shop.
“That leaves roughly 55,000 to shop in the existing centres. It is an awfully small cake to share out. It is interesting to note that Dunnes Stores has 100,000 square feet of retail space, almost equal to the square footage of the small shops on the three main streets.”
Decisions are due on the retail park applications in the next number of weeks.