THE LONG-AWAITED redevelopment of Sligo city centre, which has been in the pipeline for more than a decade, finally got the go-ahead yesterday when An Bord Pleanála approved an €80 million scheme on the site of the Wine Street car park.
However, as developers Treasury Holdings announced that work would start in 2009, Sligo's mayor Veronica Cawley warned the company that there must be no more delays, saying "the people of Sligo have waited long enough".
She said the development, which is to include 30 shops, 1,000 car parking spaces, 27 apartments and 30,000sq ft of office space, would be the commercial heart of the gateway city and would regenerate Sligo at a time when it was facing huge challenges, not least an exodus of shoppers north of the Border.
The company said yesterday that 500 people would be employed at the site during construction, and once it was completed the scheme would create 500 "direct and indirect jobs".
A plan to develop the site in the heart of Sligo was first brought before its borough council in 1999, but the mayor pointed out yesterday that discussions about how to develop what was regarded as the focal point of Sligo began much earlier.
The project was plunged into uncertainty at the beginning of this year when, following legal advice, the borough council served notice on Callside Developments, a subsidiary of Treasury, that it intended to rescind the contract for the sale of the site because of a failure to secure full planning permission within a five-year period.
The option of securing a new developer was discussed, but the company received a reprieve after negotiations. At the time Treasury appealed to a number of parties objecting to the project to withdraw their opposition, saying it could proceed almost immediately if the appeal to An Bord Pleanála was dropped.
The local chamber of commerce, Tesco Ireland and two local traders' groups had appealed to the board.
In a statement yesterday, the company said the development would be "the centrepiece and heart of a new retail core for Sligo".
It said a plaza would be included in the scheme, providing a much-needed quality public space for the people of Sligo, while the new multi-storey car park would facilitate those using the centre or accessing the town centre.
Niall Kavanagh, director of development at Treasury Holdings Ireland, said parking had been a persistent problem in Sligo for some years.
He said 1,000 additional parking spaces over the Treasury Holdings scheme would address that issue.
The scheme will include two apartment blocks.
