A shopping centre planned for Ferrybank in south Kilkenny has been given a further 3,000 square foot for development use, by members of Kilkenny County Council.
The members had to go to a vote in order to come to an agreement on whether or not an additional 3,000 square foot should be approved for the developer.
The Ferrybank shopping centre is part of the draft retail Ferrybank-Belview local area plan 2009 - 2015 which was brought before the members with proposed amendments this week.
Several members had concerns about the additional lands being designated for retail/residential purposes as they believed that the area should be used as open space.
“There is enough land designated for development - the whole wood that is there should remain as open space,” said Labour councillor Michael O’ Brien who later proposed the plan with an amendment, stating that the area proposed should not be zoned residential as it would result in loss of biodiversity and habitat.
Cllr Maclolm Noonan GP supported this amendment. He added,” the lands should be dezoned back to open space. Ecological value should take precedence and the community clearly wants this.”
However, the motion was defeated by a vote of 13 to 10 following the declaration by the county manager that the council could be subjected to a subcharge from the developer should the lands be dezoned.
Joe Crockett recommended the approval of the plan as proposed by senior planner Denis Malone.
He said, “the site was originally bought with the land zoned residential but it is proposed open space in the draft development plan for the area.
“We need to develop Ferrybank as an urban centre in line with government strategy. It should be an area of great growth in years to come. It is ambitious designating the area as a Gateway Suburban Centre, but we employed an independent consultant who believes that this can work. But the collapse of the economy was unprecedented and everything changed. Now we have to move forward with this plan although the joint retail strategy has not been finalised. I believe that this plan represents the best chances of the members’ ambitions to be achieved and of persuading An Bord Pleanala that this development should happen, as they have consistently refused the zoning on this site,” said Mr Crockett.
The members proceeded to propose the plan which allowed for 3,000 square foot extra for the shopping centre in the hope that the development would be up and running for the people of the area by October of this year. To date there are no services or facilities for the growing population of Ferrybank where thousands of houses were built but no services were put in place.
