Planners to rule on new retail centre for Dunshaughlin

A decision on a planning application for a new neighbourhood centre in Dunshaughlin will now be made by Meath County Council in July, following the receipt of further information from the applicants, Evan and Peter Newell. The development proposed is the construction of a neighbourhood centre in three two- to three-storey buildings, to accommodate a supermarket, six retail units, a cafe, 11 office units, a medical centre and a creche, as well as providing parking for 196 cars and 61 bicycles. The development site is at Knock and Readsland, Dunshaughlin, on the R125 Drumree link road being constructed as part of the M3 project. A new roundabout is proposed by the applicants, and letters of consent from Meath County Council and Castlethorn Construction regarding access to lands for water and sewer connections and access to the new roundabout junctions are included in the application. The application states that the neighbourhood centre is proposed for this site due to its strategic location between zoned lands to the east and the M3 motorway link road to the west. It is zoned B3 to provide shopping facilities, as well as a variation to allow for convenience retail and creche development. The residential development proposed by Castlethorn Development on adjoining lands provides a valuable opportunity to integrate the layout of the proposed neighbourhood development with the centre, the application adds. Included with the application are a tree survey, landscape development report, environmental strategy and archaeological impact assessment. There are objections from MacCabe Durney Barnes on behalf of Paul Healy of SuperValu, Dunshaughlin, and from the representative organisation for independent family grocers, RGDATA. The SuperValu submission says that the out-of-town location is unsustainable and that it is designed to serve a bigger catchment than a neighbourhood centre; the development is very large in scale compared to the existing village centre and would seriously impact the vitality and viability of the village centre. The proposal is justified on a predicted increase in population, the submission states, but housebuilding in the area has ceased. It is also claimed that the plan is in contravention of the planning guidelines in developing Dunshaughlin beyond its assigned status of smaller growth town. Planning permission already exists for a number of other retail developments that have not commenced due to the economic recession, the SuperValu objection goes on, and there is a high vacancy of existing units in Dunshaughlin. RGDATA requests that the development not be permitted 'in its current format' as it is contrary to national transport objectives and would impact on town centre and retail planning guidelines.