A CALL for a change in planning legislation to prevent rival developers lodging with An Bord Pleanala what often appear to be strategic objections aimed at thwarting competitors' projects has been made. Donegal town lord mayor, Ernan McGetttigan, says the planning board should be authorised to investigate the bona fides of objections lodged by any developer with a vested interest in alternative proposals of a similar type in the same locality. The call comes after proposals for a much heralded 40m commercial development in the town centre already sanctioned by Donegal County Council was appealed to the planning board. An objection to the proposed scheme was lodged by UK-based Keeney Construction which already has planning permission for a 100m retail, residential and office scheme at the site of the Magee clothing factory in the Milltown area of the town.
Keeney Construction was previously an observer at An Bord Pleanala hearing into objections from Tesco to proposals from a third developer Mullingar based Bennett Construction for a retail scheme to be anchored by Dunnes Stores in an area of the town known as The Mullans. The proposed development was turned down. Keeney Construction is a London based development company owned by Danny Keeney, a native of county Donegal.
The multi million town centre development now under threat is set to include 15,835sq m (170,447sq ft) of retail space linked by a glazed mall and along with cafes and restaurants as well as 52 apartments, a multiscreen cinema, office suites and 525 car parking spaces. "If a developer lodges objections to proposals from a rival within the same area, An Bord Pleanala should have a mechanism for investigating the nature of that objection, " McGettigan says. "It's blatantly obvious as far as I'm concerned . . . and as far as the whole community is concerned . . . that this has nothing to do with planning. It has everything to do with one commercial developer trying to get the go-ahead first."
Last month McGettigan organised a silent vigil of 400 residents in the town centre to highlight local anger at the latest objection. Anxious traders along with business people and local residents have for years argued that the town needs the kind of commercial boost the town-centre shopping complex would provide.
Last year 2,500 local people signed a petition calling on An Bord Pleanala to facilitate and promote commercial development in the town. A public meeting called to discuss the issue attracted 1,200 locals, with many people concerned about the motivations of some of those lodging objections to specific developments.
"All this makes it appear that our county council which approved the scheme doesn't know what it's about.
I believe our planners are as good as anywhere else in the country. We're now becoming a bit of a joke here in Donegal. The problem is that developers from outside the county who see the potential here are being frightened away because of the level of objections routinely lodged.
"Under the national retail strategy this is a 'tier two' town earmarked as a centre for retail development. The danger now is that because of these objections we could be relegated to "tier three" or "tier four" and we could lose impetus as far as that drive to promote development is concerned. Instead, the focus could shift to towns like Balllyshannon, Bundoran and Stranorlar. Letterkenny has been described as the fastest developing town in Europe. We should be developing in a similar fashion. But because of what's going on here that's not happening."
"Obliging developers to put up a bond of say, 50,000 when they lodge an objection to a rival's scheme is something An Bord Pleanala should consider, " says local Fianna Fail county councillor, Jonathan Kennedy. "If it's deemed a genuine objection they could get their money back when the board's enquiry is complete. If it's decided the motivation behind the appeal is purely to waste time the developer should forfeit the cash.
"It's very clear now that what we're talking about here is a serial objector.
First of all Atlantic Homecare was objected to, then Dunnes Stores was objected to and now the Michael Kelly town centre development is the focus of his attention. We're all pleased that his own project at the Magee site has got the go ahead, but the fact is it's a larger development than the one he's objecting to on grounds of density and traffic congestion.
"The message we're getting back now is that when developers approach major retailers as potential anchor tenants for new commercial schemes in Donegal they're finding them reticent because there's an expectation that the development will inevitably be held up."
Sunday Tribune
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