Cllrs voice concern over delays to new Trim town centre

Concerns that Trim's new town centre development could still be years away from being delivered has prompted calls for Trim Town Council to offer a site to another supermarket chain and bring in competition.

At Monday night's meeting of Trim Town Council, the issue was raised by Cllr Vincent McHugh who asked officials what was happening with the town centre proposal. “I'm a bit concerned as to where we're going. It's over five years since all this started and I don't think we are any nearer a supermarket,” he said.

He asked Town Manager Kevin Stewart if there were certain timeframes in the contract in which the supermarket had to be delivered.

Bennett Construction won the tender to provide the new town centre on the lands purchased from council at Townspark South, Trim. Planning permission was granted by Trim Town Council and An Bord Pleanala upheld the grant of planning permission following an appeal last October.

Mr Stewart said there are various timeframes in the contract (with Bennetts) and that they are all related to one key date which is when the contract is completed.

He said that the contract is deemed to be completed when a satisfactory grant of planning permission is in place. He added that this date had not come yet and that, while An Bord Pleanala had agreed to the planning permission, the fire safety certificate was not yet finalised. He said it had been processed to a certain level but further information was needed.

Mr Stewart said that the contract states the company must make reasonable endeavours to complete the supermarket element not later than 24 months after satisfactory grant of planning permission and that, if it is not completed within three years, the local authority can take back the site.

“Why are the contracts so different than any other contract for buildings in the town? The way things have gone, we are looking at a situation where we are held to ransom. They can hold us out as long as they like and never build the supermarket. The only way is to sell a site to build another supermarket. That would move on this crowd,” said Cllr McHugh.

He claimed the developer was not interested in going ahead with the supermarket in current (economic) times and described the contract as a “Mickey Mouse job” and a “pure farce”.

He added: “Let us put another site up for sale, bring in competition, and that will sort it out straight away.”

Cllr Phil Cantwell agreed and said they should bite the bullet and invite another supermarket. “People are going to Navan or Blanchardstown to shop. The people of Trim have asked for competition, but didn't get it,” he said.

Cllr Gerard Reilly said that if the development was not working out for the developers, the council should be in a position to take the lands back and use it for something else in the town, if it wasn't built in four to five years.

Cllr Trevor Golden asked if there was an option to offer another site for a supermarket, as suggested, and make it available for one of the multiples to come in and bring in some competition.

Mr Stewart said the council still had a piece of development land in the area that was zoned appropriately and was about 2.3 acres. He said they could look at this.

Mr Stewart stressed that just because a developer might not want to build because the time is not right, this does not mean that there is not a satisfactory grant of permission. He said that, once the developer gets the fire certificate, they would find it hard to argue that they did not have satisfactory grant of planning permission.

Cllr Danny O'Brien commented that, if they wanted, the developers could put in a ridiculous fire certificate to delay planning. However, Mr Stewart said it was simply not the case that the purchaser was trying to use the fire certificate to delay the project.

Cllr McHugh said: “It is still five to six years down the road before we get a supermarket. We have a site for another supermarket to come in and talk. People can't wait that long for a supermarket.”

However, Cllr Jimmy Pepperd urged caution and said they had been looking for that land in terms of a multi-storey car park, which would generate income for the town.