Council rejects €300m Citymart centre in Kilkenny

ShoppingCentres: Plans for a €300 million shopping, business and residential complex in Kilkenny received a setback last weekend when planning permission was refused by the local authority.

Officials said the main reason was traffic congestion and the "inadequacy of the existing roads infrastructure" to cope with the proposed development.

Developers were hoping to build "Citymart", a mixed-use urban development of shops, restaurants, offices, a cinema, medical centre, hotel, 54 apartments and 1,200 car-parking spaces on 13 acres which formerly housed the livestock mart. The livestock mart relocated to a greenfield site on the outskirts of Kilkenny earlier this year.

The project was envisaged as the second phase of a major urban regeneration programme involving an overall investment of €600 million. The first phase, MacDonagh Junction - a development of shops, offices and apartments built on a brown-field 10.5-acre site beside the railway station - opened last week.

John McCormack, a director of services with Kilkenny County Council, said while the authorities are "in favour" of the Citymart project in principle, an inner relief road and a new bridge over the River Nore would be required before the development could proceed. He said it was "not possible to put a timeline" on these infrastructural projects because they have yet to go through the planning process. "Building a new road and bridge in the heart of medieval Kilkenny would be difficult," he added, "given the city's architectural and archaeological heritage".

Citymart is a joint venture between Kilkenny Livestock Market Ltd and Melcorpo Property Development Ltd, a property development company.

The managing director of the joint venture, David Lyons, said Citymart will appeal the decision to An Bord Pleanála and is "confident of a successful outcome".