New Trim town centre hopes dashed

Plans to develop a new town centre in Trim including a supermarket, shops, offices and apartments have fallen through, it has been confirmed, after the developer who bought the site pulled out of the deal. Bennett Construction was awarded the tender to deliver the new town centre and a deal was done on the purchase of the site from Trim Town Council and Meath County Council for €3.2m in February 2003. Planning permission was granted by the council for the development in May 2007 but an appeal was subsequently lodged to an Bord Pleanala, which upheld the granting of permission in October 2007. However, some 18 months on, no work has commenced and, following months of speculation on the future of the proposed plans, it has been confirmed that Bennett Construction no longer wishes to continue with the project and discussions are currently underway to wind up the contract. It is understood that a deposit of €800,000 was paid for the site, which is the subject of the talks. Trim Town Manager Kevin Stewart said: 'Following lengthy discussions with Bennetts, it is inevitable that the development will not happen in the short to medium term and discussions are now taking place about the formal arrangements for terminating the contract.' Mr Stewart said the council would be putting the site back up for sale and is taking advice on the best course of action. He added it is still the council"s objective to have a high-quality town centre development in Trim but that the issue is timing, having regard to the property market in the current economic climate. Shaston Contracting, a Bennett company, was granted permission for an anchor supermarket, 21 retail units, a bar/café, creche, offices and 144 apartments on the 1.91 hectares site at Townspark South, Trim. The anchor unit of 2,400sq metres was to be occupied by SuperValu and the 21 retail units varied in size from 87sq m to 217sq m. There was also to be 607sq m of office space. The development, which had an overall gross floor area of 24,638sq m, consisted of 15 buildings ranging in height from three to four storeys, some of which would have been interconnected. The Meath Chronicle exclusively revealed in December that SuperValu had pulled out of project and no longer wanted to anchor the development. Instead of proceeding with the town centre plans, Nally"s SuperValu now intends to refurbish its existing supermarket at Haggard Street. While attempts were made to find an alternative supermarket chain to anchor the development, it is understood that any offer would have been substantially less than the original agreement and the figures were not stacking up for the developer. This, together with the worsening economic situation, led to the project being abandoned. While the purchase price for the land was €3.2m, the deal was worth substantially more to the council as each phase of the development was completed. The €3.2m covered the price of the site and the first phase of the development but additional payments would have been due on the site for all development over and above this. It is understood that if Bennetts built all they had planning permission for, it would have generated in the region of a further €9m in revenue for the council. This money was intended to fund the roads and services for the town centre, including a pedestrian link between the town centre and Market Street and to extend Finnegan"s Way, providing a new vehicular access into the town centre lands. The town centre development was part of a wider plan for the lands that also include the Office of Public Works (OPW) new headquarters, which are almost completed and will be occupied in June.