This article is from page 16 of the 2006-12-05 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 16 JPG
SHANNON Town Centre operations company, SkyCourt is not opposed to the expansion of a local filling station and shop but is unable to give approval for the scale of the development envisaged.
SkyCourt Manager, Pat Kelly issued a statement on Monday evening in response to claims that the company had refused consent to local businessman Darragh O’Connor for the upgrading of the Texaco service station which he operates in the town centre. Mr O’Connor wants to renovate the service station and expand the 600 sq. ft shop into a 1,450 sq.ft. supermarket.
In his statement, Mr Kelly said that SkyCourt was not refusing consent to upgrade the premises but was restricted in granting permission for the scale of the supermarket proposed.
“SkyCourt generally welcomes the development of new units and the expansion of existing outlets at our Shopping Centre in Shannon. However we have a legal responsibility to act in accordance with our obligations to all tenants and in this instance we were obliged to refuse consent to one element only of the proposed re-development on this basis”, Mr Kelly explained.
“On January 14, 2004 and again on the January 30, 2004, the Manager of the Texaco Service Station was informed by letter that no development on foot of the planning permission they had received could take place until they received the necessary consent from SkyCourt under the terms of their lease.
“Any suggestion that Texaco were unaware or surprised by the requirement for consent is simply untrue.
“Indeed, SkyCourt is still waiting to receive up to date detailed plans of the works to be carried out”, Mr Kelly concluded.