Untitled - Cork City Council

Cork Strategic Retail Study
6.22 Planning applications should be assessed on their merits according to detailed criteria
(discussed later).
Retail Hierarchy
Overview
6.23 The NSS provides for increasing urbanisation of the population and achievement of
critical mass in large multi-faceted town centres. Some of the centres should therefore
be expanded and strengthened to meet the needs of their growing populations.
6.24 The NSS has an Atlantic Gateway Corridor Initiative from Waterford to Galway
incorporating the Gateway of Cork and the Hub of Mallow, which aims to
counterbalance the development in Dublin. This will have a significant bearing on the
towns along the “Gateway”; namely Youghal, Midleton, Carrigtwohill, Blarney, Mallow,
Buttevant and Charleville – market demand for new retail floorspace in these towns is
likely to increase.
6.25 Allocations for retail floorspace must be geographical or town catchment specific.
Peripheral towns need more self sufficiency for local shopping trips to serve their own
catchments. Our recommendations for the retail hierarchy are summarised in Table
6.3 on the next page.
Cork City Centre
6.26 Cork City Centre is the primary retail centre in the County and the region and should
continue to be the focus for most comparison retail development in the south of the
country.
6.27 The City Centre is undergoing major central development at present, with large
developments under construction at the Guy’s site, Cornmarket Street and at St.
Patrick’s Street/Emmet Place. Also under construction is a new Dunnes store and a
retail warehousing scheme at the An Post site, Eglinton Street. In addition there is
planning permission for a range of new convenience and comparison floorspace at
Grand Parade, Lavitt’s Quay, Merchants Quay and St. Patrick’s Quay, and a proposal
for retail development at the Capitol Cinema site.
6.28 The City Centre is undergoing significant expansion through edge-of-centre
redevelopment, most notably on the Cork Docklands. While the Docklands will not be
primarily developed as a retail destination it will have an element of both convenience
and comparison floorspace.
6.29 The retail centres/services in the Docklands are to be rolled out in tandem with the
20,000 additional population anticipated in the area and will need to begin in the 2013-
2020 timeframe.
Roger Tym & Partners with Simon Clear & Associates
March 2008 44