NAAS, 1 October: by Brian Byrne & Trish Whelan. A new £14 million 'district shopping centre' planned for Naas is completely at odds with the current Naas Development Plan, and will require both a zoning Material Contravention and a change of mind by the town's representative body politic.
Permission for the development, on a 14-acre site on Monread Road (above), was applied for last Friday by Hazelmark Developments Ltd, a company whose beneficial owners include the Quealy Group, Frank Cleary, Mick McGinn and Dennis Curry.
The project includes in its first phase a 3,000 sq m supermarket unit which will be almost twice the size of the current Superquinn store in Naas. Superquinn was last year denied permission by Naas UDC to move to a site on an industrial estate closer to Naas than the proposed development, because of the element of the Naas Development Plan prohibiting major retail developments outside the town centre.
This element was strongly fought for by Naas councillors over recent years in response to pressure from Naas town centre traders, who fear loss of business if any major retail development takes place outside the town.
The traders also doggedly fought an action against a proposal two years ago for a designer outlet retail development at Goffs in Kill. Although initial permission for that was granted by Kildare County Council, it was subsequently shot down on traffic grounds.
Up to yesterday, no comment was available from Naas Chamber of Commerce about the latest plan, and the spokesperson for the original traders' group which fought the Kill proposal was not in a position to discuss the matter pending more information becoming available.
Councillors in Naas had already been appraised of details of the development by a representative of the promoters prior to the official media launch of the project last week. And at recent meetings of the UDC, KNN has observed a preparedness by several of them to 'revisit' the 'no outlying shopping centre' provision.
The new Hazelmark proposals include a supermarket, 15 retail units, creche, office and 388 car parking spaces. Phase Two plans will be lodged in 4-6 weeks time and will cater for ‘white goods’ outlets. On completion, the development will provide 860 car parking spaces, and access will involve the building of a roundabout on the Monread Road.
Up to 150 people will be employed during the construction stages of the development. Around 200 jobs will be provided when the project is up and running. It is also intended to liaise with local bus operators to provide a bus service to the Monread Road.
According to project manager Conor Furey, the District Shopping Centre will ‘impact positively’ on Naas and will 'help stem the flow of shoppers travelling outside the town' to shop. He said the town is having its ‘lifeblood choked' by parking problems and people in Naas no longer want to do their shopping in the town centre.
He also suggested that the proposed new shopping centre could help attract more business to Naas, 'with all the associated benefits for traders in the town centre’.
Traffic consultant Michael Moran of TPS Ltd, in Newbridge, said they are aware the project will require ‘major consultations’ throughout the process.
Naas UDC have commissioned a report from Brady Shipman Martin on the future retail development of the town, and it is unlikely any decision will be made on the proposed development until that is complete.
©2001brianbyrne/trishwhelan/knn