Blow for supermarket plan in Monksland
A plan for a second supermarket in Monksland has fallen foul of the planners in Roscommon County Council for potentially creating a “car dependent” single retail operator that would work against Roscommon County Council's Smarter Travel Initiative and the Athlone Joint Retail Strategy which emphasises a “mixed use centre” in that area.
A company called MCS River Village Limited had submitted plans in early autumn for a single-storey supermarket spanning over 2,200 square metres with an off-licence sales area on a green field site, close to Joe Duffy Motors and the Athlone Springs Hotel.
Several of the engineering drawings submitted with the proposal, lodged on September 27, were headed "Lidl Store Athlone, Roscommon" which had heightened the prospect of the German discounter coming to sprawling Athlone westside suburb.
The supermarket plan was earmarked for land zoned "District Centre" and would utilise a 0.91 hectare site currently "overgrown and vacant," as the planning documents lodged in support of the project indicated. Surrounding the site are open fields to the south and east, and to the west, is bordered by ARM Academy and the Athlone Springs Hotel.
In recent days, however, Roscommon County Council turned down the plans on three separate grounds, the first being that the store would form part of the District Centre zone, and in the local authority's view would not “provide an integrated mixed land use approach” to the development of the land as set out in Monksland/Bealnamulla Local Area Plan.
It would, the ruling contended, militate against the Athlone Joint Retail Stategy for the River Village Area to “develop as a mixed use centre”.
Secondly, if permitted in isolation, the council pointed out that it would result in “a single retail operator development” which would be “car dependent” without connectivity or integration into the surrounding District Centre zoned lands, the decision documents argued.
The proposal would not be conducive to create a “vibrant centre and sense of place” in the core area of Monksland/Bealnamullia, it added, and would work against the achievement of the principles of the Roscommon Smarter Travel Initiative which emphasises pedestrian mobility and alternatives to the car.
The local authority was also unhappy with the “generic design approach” planned which it stated was “lacking in architectural merit” and would fail to provide a “unique sense of place in the commercial area” and give rise to an “adverse visual impact”.
See more in this Wednesday's Westmeath Independent.