Thumbsdown for retail park in Swords sets size precedent

An Bord Pleanala's decision to refuse planning permission for a major retail warehousing park off the N1 near Swords in north Dublin is expected to set an important precedent for similar schemes in other areas.

The ruling appears to take on board some of the most salient recommendations in the retail planning guidelines recently issued by the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey.

Last October, Fingal County Council granted permission for the park on a 70-acre site on the eastern side of the M1 between Dublin airport and Swords. It was to have included 340,000 sq ft of retail warehousing in 15 buildings. The largest unit of 100,000 sq ft is understood to have been of interest to the giant British DIY chain, B & Q, as its first Dublin outlet. Woodies, which trades from a nearby store along the Swords bypass, was one objector to the scheme, arguing that such a "category killer" store would tend to hoover up all the trade in a particular category in the catchment area. B & Q, part of the Kingfisher Group, has captured a major slice of the British DIY market with stores that are generally around 110,000 sq ft. With the new restrictions on store sizes here, B & Q has apparently decided that it will now settle for 60,000 sq ft buildings and is said to be looking for space near Blanchardstown Town Centre, where Green Property and Cosgraves are both building retail warehousing. Property developer David Daly, who is promoting the Swords park, is now "reviewing the options open to him", according to Bill Tuite, of Jones Lang LaSalle.

In turning down the scheme, the planning appeals board said the development would have a significant adverse impact on established retail shopping outlets in the area because of the scale of the retail element, the significance of the addition of the retail element of the development to existing retail facilities in the area and the adequacy of existing and permitted shopping outlets in the area.

The board also said the development, by itself or by the precedent which the granting of permission for it would set for other relevant developments, would adversely affect the use of a national road by traffic. Furthermore, the scheme would be premature pending the construction of the M1 motorway. This refers to a plan to divert traffic on to a new section of the M1 a short distance on the city side of Dublin airport to a point north of Swords. The board's decision to refuse permission is in line with recommendations from the planning inspector, Simon Clear. He recalled that the retail planning guidelines indicated that large-scale development formats required a high-quality road network with spare capacity. The road system in the vicinity of the Swords site, even if developed to dual-carriage standard, would not be a high-quality road network with spare capacity.

He considered the volume of traffic that would be generated by the main store would severely reduce the carrying capacity of the road and would waste the investment on improvements to it. The inspector said the planning authority appeared to have given inadequate consideration to the likely effects on the "vitality and viability" of a town, even of the proposed size and function of Swords and the other smaller towns, arising from the scale and nature of the proposed development.

Mr Clear said the development of very large-scale retail warehouse units in excess of 100,000 sq ft attracting large volumes of car-borne customers from a widely drawn catchment area could have "an unacceptable impact on smaller shops and town centres." In addition these large-scale developments required a high-quality road network with spare capacity. "These conditions do not exist in Ireland. For the foreseeable future, therefore, large-scale single retail warehouse units in excess of 64,583 sq ft (including any ancillary garden centre) are unlikely to be acceptable due to their effect on the surrounding road network and nearby towns." The inspector said that only in exceptional circumstances, where the criteria laid down in the retail planning guidelines can be met and it can be clearly shown that short-term and long-term strategic capacity required for national development is not used to serve the development, should any large retail warehouse unit in excess of 64,583 sq ft be permitted.