Chamber claims plan to rezone extra land threatens town’s survival

A CHAMBER of commerce has described a proposal to zone additional land for an out-of-town retail centre as “quite remarkable”.

Ennis Town Council has been asked to approve zoning for a “district centre” which would facilitate a €30 million development.

A chamber spokesperson said: “It is quite remarkable that in the teeth of the greatest retail collapse in living memory, the council should seek to zone additional land for significant retail purposes.”

In January, Michael Lynch Ltd lodged plans for the retail centre, prompting opposition from businesses in the town, along with representative body of independent retailers, RGDATA.

The council has yet to make a decision.

However, architect and planner Michael Leahy, on behalf of the chamber, said vacancy rates in retail businesses in Ennis town centre were “at a dangerous level”.

He said any proposed rezoning “could have a potentially ruinous effect on the retail balance within Ennis”.

As part of an overhaul of the Ennis and environs development plan, councillors have proposed the site be rezoned as a “district centre”. In a submission, Mr Leahy states that “the proposal to create a new significantly-sized shopping could involve the creation of an alternative competitor to Ennis town centre located out of the centre”.

He says that if the rezoning and other changes are adopted, they “have the potential to have a significantly detrimental effect on town centre retail. This, in turn, will lead to great difficulties in ensuring the survival of the building fabric in the historic town centre”.

He claims the proposal “for additional land for additional retail space at a time when vacancy rates are at levels which have not been witnessed before in modern times seems to fly in the face of common sense”.

The architect and planner says that proposed changes by the council in its Ennis and Environs Development Plan “may well leave the town of Ennis without a coherent retail strategy”.

The submission by the chamber and others received are to be evaluated by planners before going back to members of Ennis Town Council for a final decision.