An Bord Pleanála has overruled one of its own inspectors and refused permission for a controversial €2 million Lidl supermarket off the Western Distributor Road.
It is the second time in 18 months that the Board has overturned City Council planning grants for the site.
Rejecting the plans, the Board said there was no justification for a discount supermarket on the two-acre site bounded by the Ballymoneen Road and Distributor Road and that it would seriously injure the visual amenity of the area.
Last July, Florence Thomas was granted permission for a single storey mono-pitch roofed discount foodstore with off licence over a gross floor area of 1,894 square metres (net retail area of 1,271 sq m), as well as 100 parking spaces.
The permission came less than 18 months after An Bord Pleanála rejected an almost identical application for the site.
The current application was appealed by RGDATA – the small retailers’ representative group – which expressed concerns about “the proliferation of planned and permitted convenience stores” in the western suburbs of the city in recent years.
The group also argued that the cumulative effect of retail developments posed a “real threat to the future vitality and viability of the city centre”.
Planning Inspector Lorraine Dockery recommended to the Board that permission be granted on the grounds it would add to facilities available in the area.
“The general area is characterised by residential development and it is my opinion that a development of the nature and scale proposed would add to the facilities being provided within the area.
“It is a good quality development that would increase competitiveness in the retail sector without being detrimental to the town centre in terms of vitality and viability, especially having regard to its location and scale,” she said.
That recommendation was rejected by the Board, which said that a ‘Master Plan’ for the development of adjacent lands – earmarked for the provision of a neighbourhood centre – would not permit for an attractive form of development.
It said that the substantial amount of parking adjacent to the main road “would fail to provide for adequate visual connection to lands to the south”.
“The proposed development would therefore seriously injure the visual amenities of the area and of properties in the vicinity,” it ruled.
It added that in the context of the new Aldi supermarket nearby – which opened this week – an adequate case had not been made for this type of facility.
The Lidl plans met with huge opposition from local residents – a series of objections to the application were lodged, as well as a petition with more than 130 signatures.
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