COUNCILLORS IN Co Louth have voted to materially contravene the county development plan to grant permission for a supermarket on a greenfield site on the outskirts of Ardee near a link road with the M1 motorway.
However, retailers group RGdata, in a submission on the application, said a retail impact assessment had not been prepared, as required by the county’s retail strategy.
The Eastern Regional Fisheries Board said the decision should be postponed until the waste-water treatment plant in Ardee was upgraded.
Mark Deary (Green Party) voted against the development, saying: “I don’t believe this will be a two-way street that will benefit the centre of Ardee.”
Ged Nash (Labour) said to approve it would “pull retail away from the historic area of Ardee which is already under pressure and we would repeat the mistakes already made in Drogheda and Dundalk.”
The single-level supermarket proposed by Louth businessmen Éamon and Séamus Rogers will have a retail floor of 2,390 sq m. It will be entered via a roundabout on the Ardee link road on the northern edge of the town.
The planning report from the county council acknowledged that town and district centres should be the “primary” locations for retail development but in this case it was “satisfied” there was no alternative location at the moment.
The zoning of the lands is for mixed commercial, residential use/ light industry and, with the exception of those of the Green and Labour Party, the councillors voted yesterday to contravene the county development plan and allow it to proceed.
Jim Lennon (Fine Gael) proposed the contravention and said it was just what Ardee needed.
The county council is also considering another planning application by the Rogers for a business park of 43,400 sq m, consisting of 29 light industry units, on land that also faces the Ardee link road.
Meanwhile, in the southwest a fifth of planning applications submitted to Kerry County Council were refused last year, figures released yesterday confirm.
In 2009, 1,652 planning applications were received – the vast majority for one-off housing; 1,099 were granted permission, 344 were refused and a number were withdrawn.
The figures were released on foot of a joint motion by Fianna Fáil councillors Michael Cahill and Tom Fleming.
Mr Cahill said the single biggest factor for refusal was “percolation” issues and it was becoming more stringent to obtain permission for houses requiring septic tanks.