Kilkenny County Council and Waterford City Council must urgently develop a joint retail strategy which would include plans for one of the most populated areas of the city’s environs — Ferrybank.
That is according to Green Party Councillor Malcolm Noonan, who also added that the location of a proposed County Council Branch Library in the vacant Ferrybank Shopping Centre may not be the most efficient use of public money.
Cllr Noonan was speaking following lengthy and often heated debates on the future plans for the vacant Ferrybank Shopping Centre and moreover a decision made by a majority of members to change its designation under the draft Ferrybank Local Area Plan. The decision was made despite advice from Waterford City Council that it could have negative implications on Waterford City Centre.
“I would share the concerns of Waterford City Council and we have a responsibility to our sister authority and to the people of the entire region. The time for short-term, parochial thinking on issues that affect the local economy is over. I also think that a fundamental shift is taking place in Irish retailing which will see massive job losses in local family owned shops as consumers move towards the multiple retail giants’ said Cllr Noonan.
“I raised my own concerns about the viability of Ferrybank Shopping Centre and its sheer scale. Now Minister Hogan’s legislation will give further advantage to the out of town retail model which evidence in the UK would suggest is a mistake of epic proportions’ he said.
Councillor Noonan expressed concern that if the shopping centre fails, the proposed Kilkenny County Council Branch Library within the complex would become an economic burden.
He called for an immediate engagement of both local authorities and authorities within the southeast region to devise a coherent retail planning strategy which would have the protection of existing retail jobs and family owned business at its core.
