Planning hurdle for 'East Cork's Kildare Village' removed after two-year battle

Residents and local businesses welcome the news, while environmental campaigners and city businesses had objected 

Rioja Estates want to build a €100m retail outlet village in Carrigtwohill, Co Cork. Picture: Denis Minihane

Two years after Rioja Estates unveiled plans for a €100m retail outlet village at Carrigtwohill, in East Cork, the High Court intervened in the planning battle at the heart of the project.

The proposed retail-and-tourist destination is to sell out-of-season and end-of-line goods at discounted prices. Currently, there are only two outlet villages on the island — Kildare Village, near Dublin, and The Boulevard, in Northern Ireland.

Rioja, a UK property firm, describes itself as "the largest independent outlet promoter and developer in Europe", and has created more than 4msq ft of outlet villages across Britain.

Managing director of Rioja Estates, Giles Membrey, said that following four years of researching its viability, they believed "there is room for one more tourist outlet village in Ireland".

The company said the site, just off the N25 between Glounthaune and Carrigtwohill, was optimal, as it is served by a very good road network and rail link, and is close to tourist attractions in Cobh, Fota, and Midleton.

Rioja Estates said the outlet village would create 850 direct jobs, and a further 640 during the 24-month construction period, and attract 220,000 additional tourists annually, once it opened in March 2024.

The planned development was divisive from the get-go, with strong 'for' and 'against' camps. 

Cork City Council and city businesses expressed concern that an out-of-town retail village would drain the vitality of the city centre.

Cork Business Association said it was "completely against" the proposed outlet village, pointing to "ample space" in the city centre for outlets, with vacant units in the Savoy Shopping Centre, Merchants Quay Shopping Centre, the entirety of the North Main St Shopping Centre, and the anchor store previously home to Debenhams on Patrick's St.

Environmental campaigners also voiced their objection to the retail village, as 90% of all visitors would travel to it by car.

Green Party councillors Alan O'Connor and Liam Quaide argued it would create far more vehicle journeys, thus increasing carbon footprint, and said it was a textbook example of unsustainable development.

However, voices within Cork County Council were mostly approving. 

Council chief executive, Tim Lucey, said he and his officials were "strongly of the view" that there is the retail capacity to accommodate such a centre, and "it wouldn’t have an adverse impact" on other retailers.

A council-commissioned study found it could be of significant benefit to the city's economy and "an important contributor to the life, vitality, and attractiveness of metropolitan Cork, as well as an important asset to the wider southern region".

The proposed site required rezoning by Cork County Council in order for the development to go ahead, which firstly required an amendment to the 2014 County Development Plan.

On November 14, 2019, Cork County Council published a notice that they planned to vary the County Development Plan to facilitate the outlet village. 

A week later, the Office of the Planning Regulator (OPR) took issue with the proposed variation, and made a submission to the county council.

The OPR was established in April 2019 to ensure local authorities support and implement government planning policy. 

The national planning watchdog is responsible for independently evaluating county development plans and variations to them. 

The OPR can issue observations and recommendations to local authorities, and, if necessary, can call on the relevant government minister to intervene and compel certain actions of local authorities.

The OPR's Niall Cussen said the variation was premature, as a joint retail development plan between Cork City and County councils was being devised, and that facilitating the retail outlet would not be consistent with 2012 retail planning guidelines, which recommend that outlet centres should not be situated in more out-of-town locations.

The planning watchdog also raised concerns about known capacity constraints on the N25 corridor, and its ability to cope with increased traffic from outlet visitors.

Despite the recommendations of the OPR, in January 2020 Cork County councillors voted overwhelmingly in favour of facilitating Rioja Estates’ tourist outlet village, with a 42-4 tally in support of varying the County Development Plan.

However, before the county council could move to rezone the land to accommodate the development, the OPR made an unprecedented intervention.

Within weeks of the council vote, in February 2020, the OPR formally recommended that the state minister at the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, Damien English, intervene.

The watchdog asked the minister to use his special powers, under section 31 of the Planning and Development Act, to direct Cork County Council to reverse the variation of the County Development Plan.

This was the first time that the OPR used his powers to make such a recommendation to the minister, making it a significant test case.

In March 2020, Mr English issued a draft direction, in line with the OPR's position, ordering Cork County Council to amend its variation, and invited public consultation submissions by May 2020.

In May 2020, Cork County Council’s chief executive, Tim Lucey, made the council's case in favour of the development and said that the shopping facility would meet an identified need in the metropolitan area, county, and region.

Mr Lucey said that the OPR's recommendations were fundamentally flawed, as the project satisfied all statutory requirements; was in the interests of the proper planning and sustainable development of the area, and was not premature, pending an updated joint retail strategy by Cork County Council and Cork City Council.

By December 2020, a new government had formed, and the housing, local government and heritage minister, Peter Burke, delivered his decision. 

The minister sided with the OPR and directed that the variation to the 2014 Cork County Development Plan be deleted.

Mr Burke said, in his direction, that the variation "fails to set out an overall strategy for the proper planning and sustainable development of the area".

Many councillors were angered by what they saw as an overstepping by the OPR and the minister, and an undermining of local democracy.

After seeking urgent legal advice in January, Cork County Council voted in February to bring the matter to the High Court, seeking a judicial review of the decision of the minister, with the OPR as a notice party.

The council claimed its variation of the County Development Plan did take account of the vitality and viability criteria for city and town centres in retail guidelines.

It said that the minister's direction to reverse the council's decision was made without jurisdiction, and argued that the decision was fundamentally flawed, irrational, unlawful and of no legal effect.

On Friday, November 5, the High Court delivered its decision on the judicial review. Justice Humphreys ruled in favour of Cork County Council.

The minister's direction was declared invalid, and Justice Humphreys said that the law did not give the minister jurisdiction to "impose, by direction, his own views on the proper planning and development of an area over those of the elected local representatives".

While Mr Lucey has said there are still some other issues outstanding in relation to the judgment, he suspects they will also fall in the council’s favour.

Following this week’s High Court ruling, a significant roadblock to East Cork's 'Kildare Village' has now been removed.