Starbucks breaches planning law in Cork city centre

Multinational coffee retailer Starbucks opened three stores in Cork city centre without obtaining the necessary planning permission, An Bord Pleanála has ruled.

The planning authority has judged that the coffee chain’s branches on St Patrick’s Street, Princess Street and Emmet Place were all opened in commercial units that were formerly retail shops, and that the company should have applied for planning permission to change the use of the stores prior to opening its coffee restaurants.

The decision comes nearly six months after a planning dispute between Cork City Council and Starbucks was referred to An Bord Pleanála for consideration last October.

City planners had argued that Starbucks opening in the units constituted a change of use of the premises, while the coffee company is understood to have claimed that most of its produce would not be consumed on site, are take-away items, and thus its operations were retail in nature and in keeping with the store’s planning designation.

However in its ruling on all three stores, An Bord Pleanála has sided with the City Council, and judged that in all three cases “the scale, nature and layout of the coffee shop is more akin to a restaurant use which is expressly excluded from the definition of ‘shop’.”

The planning authority said the change of use of the three premises, from use as shops to use as coffee shops “raises issues that are material in relation to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area”.

It said this material change therefore constitutes a development of the units within the meaning of Section 3 of the Planning and Development Act, meaning the changes required planning permission.

It also ruled that signage erected on the protected Queen Anne house on Emmet Street would contravene a number of conditions set for the premises. A design strategy for all the retail shopfronts in the area was set in place as part of the wider Opera Lane redevelopment. An official from the City Council’s planning department said the ruling means that Starbucks will now have to apply for retention for all three stores.

“We are looking at the implications of An Bord Pleanála’s decision. We feel that Starbucks should either apply for retention or should close the stores, and we are considering further enforcement action,” the council official said.

Starbucks declined to comment on the decision when contacted by the Irish Examiner. The chain has opened six outlets in Cork in the past year, and has stores in Douglas Village and Mahon Point shopping centres and also in City Gate.