Kilkenny must grasp the opportunity to develop a vibrant city centre and a sustainable local economy without replicating the mistakes of other similar sized towns, the mayor has urged.
Mayor Malcolm Noonan was speaking to the Advertiser yesterday during a national conference on resilient local economies held in the city this week.
Norfolk native Nigel Dowdney spoke about the ‘Tesco Effect’ at the conference, referencing the repercussions of the supermarket giant’s arrival in the town of Stalham in 2002.
A town of 3,000 people, Mr Dowdney said the arrival of Tesco in Stalham had a devastating effect on him and other retailers in the town.
An initial footfall study of the town centre suggested the arrival of Tesco would attract more people to the high street but according to Mr Dowdney, a replica of that study in 2006 showed there had been a 55 per cent decrease in the number of people using the high street.
A number of local retailers closed down and were replaced by ‘takeaways, charity shops and funeral parlours’ while the town market which attracted 140 stalls now struggled to attract 10, he said.
Mayor Noonan said this effect could easily be mirrored in Kilkenny, which remains the only county in Ireland without a Tesco, without there being proper planning guidelines.
Tesco has twice been refused planning permission for a store in Callan while plans for a Tesco in Kilkenny city have been put on hold because of the economic downturn.
However there remains strong support for bringing a Tesco to Callan, particularly among local councillors, with Cllr Noonan the sole representative to vote against Tesco. And yesterday he suggested there had been a ‘level of hypocrisy he couldn’t understand’ in the debate at a local level.
“The debate here is timely because it hasn’t taken place to the same scale that it has in the UK,” he said.
“Kilkenny has a unique opportunity because we haven’t gone overboard with development. We still have a vibrant city centre with local and family owned businesses that have been there for decades.
“We need a sensible way of retaining that by finding a good balance between the needs of the consumer, access to markets and a good mix of retail developments.
“We have an opportunity not to replicate the mistakes of similar sized towns in the UK.”
Deputy Ciaran Cuffe, the minister of state with responsibility for sustainable transport, horticulture, planning and heritage, agreed these issues fitted into the wider debate of national planning policy.
In town for the conference, Minister Cuffe told the Advertiser there needed to be proper planning policies in place to protect existing city and town centres and prevent ‘a free-for-all’ of big box supermarkets.
“It is not about banning anybody, it is about putting a limit on the size of these sites and putting them in the right locations,” he said.
Cllr Noonan said the local authority and the Kilkenny Chamber of Commerce could replicate some of the initiatives implemented by Mr Dowdney and other retailers in Norfolk in response to the ‘Tesco effect’.
Among those was the strong brand recognition of their successful ‘buy local’ campaign, raising education and awareness among consumers about the importance of local businesses supporting the local economy.
“There are issues about consolidating the rural hinterland and sustaining communities and bringing about policies and plans to support local sustainable development,” he added.
