Untitled - Cork City Council

Cork Strategic Retail Study
2.44 An objective of the Plan is to allow retail growth in the Ring and County towns, in line
with planned population growth.
2.45 The ring towns (Bandon, Fermoy, Kinsale, Macroom, Mallow, Youghal) have greater
independence from the City centre and serve well-defined catchments. The
Development Plan seeks to maintain their attractiveness as self-sufficient towns by
developing the range and quality of retail development, particularly in their town
centres. Mallow is seen as a particularly important location due to its status as a
designated hub.
2.46 The Plan identifies a number of neighbourhood centres. These include various suburbs
of Cork, smaller town centres and villages. The Plan acknowledges the importance of
neighbourhood centres in meeting local needs primarily for convenience shopping but
also for a limited range of comparison goods.
2.47 Local shops serve immediate local needs and provide primarily convenience goods
within residential, commercial or mixed-use areas. It is an objective of the
Development Plan to recognise the importance of local or ‘corner’ shops in meeting
local shopping needs.
2.48 The Plan states that the preferred location for new retail development, where
practicable and viable, is in a town centre (or a district or village centre). Otherwise, the
sequential test should be applied.
2.49 The Plan recognises that in some towns, the development of strong convenience retail
anchors may be a precondition for attracting enough shoppers to support an enhanced
comparison role. This may result in a need to permit new convenience space that
cumulatively exceeds the convenience allocation for these towns in order that they can
also develop as comparison centres.
2.50 It is an objective that the range of goods sold in retail warehouses be restricted to the
sale of bulky household goods including: carpets, furniture, automotive products, white
electrical goods, DIY items, garden materials, office equipment, industrial plant and
equipment. Acceptable uses also include the sale of computers, toys and sports
goods. The Plan indicates that the size of store selling computers, toys and sports
goods should be restricted to a maximum of 2,000m 2 .
2.51 Permitted uses exclude the sale of goods which are not bulky such as food, clothing
and footwear items. Applicants for planning permission must demonstrate that the
proposal will not impact on existing centres.
2.52 The Plan notes that Cork is underprovided for in terms of modern retail warehouse
formats, with the majority of retail warehousing located in the suburbs and
predominantly provided in converted industrial or warehouse units.
Variations
2.53 The Review of Retail Warehousing in Cork (August 2004) was carried out to review the
quantitative and locational parameters for retail warehousing in County Cork. The
review was incorporated into the County Development Plan by Variation on 25 th July
2005. The review indicated a demand requirement due to demographic changes,
urbanisation and increased spending power for an additional 28,530m 2 (gross) of retail
warehousing floorspace in addition to the figures recommended in the CSRS.
2.54 The Retail Property Market Commentary (February 2006) concluded that the projected
additional retail floor space for the period 2001-2011 may have been underestimated.
As a result of these findings it is considered that each planning application for new
retail floorspace should be assessed on its merits, existing policy and the Retail
Planning Guidelines for Planning Authorities.
2.55 This was incorporated into the County Development Plan by Variation on 8th January
2007. The variation removed Objective ECO 3-11 (a):
Roger Tym & Partners with Simon Clear & Associates
March 2008 9