German store set for go-ahead in Kanturk
Several planning applications have been turned down for supermarkets in the town, but Lidl has finally made a breakthrough.
Locals who wanted more competition in the town have welcomed the move after Cork County Council cleared the way by voting for a material contravention to the County Development Plan.
This will allow the German discount chain to proceed with a 1,600sq metre store on the Banteer road.
However, they will keep their fingers crossed that An Bord Pleanála don’t turn it down, as was the case with an application from Tesco earlier this year.
It needed a two-thirds majority of county councillors to approve the material contravention. But the vote was emphatic with 40 for and just one against. The only dissenting voice belonged to Cllr Kevin O’Keeffe.
The Fianna Fáil councillor said he wouldn’t support it because “Lidl wasn’t a major supporter of Irish goods”. He was accused by other councillors of being anti-jobs creation, but stuck by his guns.
John O’Neill, the county council’s director of planning, said a previous application for a Lidl supermarket had been turned down by the planning appeals board. He said in this case another site had been chosen and he was happy that issues raised before about adequate roads serving it had been properly addressed.
County manager Martin Riordan said in his opinion Lidl had addressed all planning issues. He added that he was pleased the company had chosen to locate on a “brown field site”, taking over a derelict building.
Cllr Pat Buckley, who lives in the town, described the 7,000-signature petition in support of Lidl as unique. “It shows how many people are looking for the basic need of a supermarket,” the FG councillor said.
His party colleague Cllr Marian Murphy said she was delighted that to date there had been no objection to the Lidl plan.
“We need choice for the consumer and much-needed jobs for the Kanturk area,” she added.
