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Waterford Chamber has expressed disappointment and frustration at the continued delays being caused by opposition to a €280m development in the city.
The Chamber has voiced their concern after An Bord Pleanála confirmed they are to take a further month to decide on the appeals against the granting of planning permission for the city centre scheme.
A decision had been due by January 9. However, this has now been extended to February 11 which will be over seven months after the original planning decision made by Waterford City Council in July 2007. A previous extension had taken the decision date from November 13 last.
Six appeals were lodged with An Bord Pleanála against the decision to grant conditional planning permission to KRM Construction Partnership for the major retail, leisure, residential and hotel development on a 5.1-acre site at Brown’s Lane, Stephen St, Alexander St, Michael St and New St in Waterford.
The planning appeals board held an oral hearing in mid-November to hear the arguments for and against the development with Waterford Chamber speaking in favour of the project on that occasion.
The Chamber is supportive of the proposed brown-field site development which they say is vital to securing Waterford’s future economic vibrancy and the retail primacy of the city centre which is under pressure from developments on peripheral sites, a number of which lie beyond the city boundaries in Co Kilkenny and Co Waterford.
According to Chamber President Andrew O’Neill, “Developments of this order must be encouraged if Waterford city’s designation as gateway to the southeast under the National Spatial Strategy is to be meaningful. It had been hoped to start construction work on this €280m project in September of last year with some 600 jobs to be created during that phase and a further 1,300 from the end of 2009 when the development was due for completion. Instead, we are faced with continued delay and uncertainty as other locations forge ahead.
“We strongly believe that the appeals to An Bord Pleanála are wholly unrepresentative of the view of both the general and business community in Waterford. Indeed, this would seem to be backed up by the low number of appeals relative to the attention the scheme has received. There is no doubt but that Waterford city centre needs very significant investment if it is to compete successfully with other urban centres in the southeast and elsewhere in the country.”
The Chamber President added, “There is a growing body of anecdotal and research evidence that the leakage of retail spending from Waterford is continuing to increase and – according to research carried out by Behaviour & Attitudes - now runs in excess of €19.2m per year. Indeed, this estimate would seem conservative given experiences in the run up to the Christmas just gone. If this flow of money out of the city is to be stemmed then we need major attractions that retain spending in Waterford and which also make the city a more attractive shopping and leisure destination.
“Aside from the direct employment that this development has the potential to create in our city, there is also a tremendous multiplier effect that would have far wider benefits for new and existing businesses.
“While we are continuing to see welcome and necessary investment in our air, sea, rail and road transport infrastructure, Waterford has considerable catching up to do economically to fulfil our designated gateway role. We were reminded of this once again with the detailed data from Census 2006 showing the overall unemployment rate in this city was the third highest in the country at 12.6 per cent, compared to a national figure of 8.5 per cent. We also have almost 10 per cent of the unemployment ‘blackspots’ in the country located in our city so we certainly can’t be complacent about what inward investment we attract.”
Mr O’Neill concluded by stressing that “Waterford Chamber certainly doesn’t take the view that all development is necessarily desirable but when, as in this case, a project has had a very extensive public consultation period and been analysed in tremendous detail by the city planners who approved it having rejected an earlier application then it is a shame that it should be subjected to repeated delay that will cost Waterford very substantially. While we are clear that it is the appellants who have prompted these delays, we would now encourage An Bord Pleanála to expedite their decision-making.”
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