Untitled - Cork City Council

Cork Strategic Retail Study
• Retail parks should not be located at, or near, junctions on the national road
network.
6.92 From a demand perspective the focus for additional retail warehouse development is
within the outer edge of Cork’s suburbs and nearby in the Metropolitan Area. There is
a demand for provision adjacent to some of the Ring towns and larger rural towns but
the scale of operator requirements is not so great.
6.93 It is important to achieve a balanced distribution of provision geographically. Retailers
normally wish to locate in areas where there is spare capacity within a catchment area
so, all other things being equal, the market in time will tend to bring forward proposals
where currently there is a gap in provision.
6.94 In paragraph 6.67 we have set out a guideline distribution of new retail warehouse
floorspace which seeks to locate development where it is needed and in areas where
the market is likely to respond. At the development control stage it is necessary to
respond flexibly to market demand as it arises within these broad floorspace
guidelines. Where a potential imbalance is likely to arise this is likely to result in
unacceptable overloading of the highways network, especially at peak periods.
Consequently, the transportation implications of Retail Parks will be an important
planning consideration.
6.95 The other key aspect of location is the sequential approach set out in the Retail
Planning Guidelines. This policy issue is the strongest and most important
development control criterion. Retail warehouses should be sited where they are
accessible by more than simply car borne traffic, if possible, and should complement
town centres. Stand alone out-of-town locations are not so well related to a town
centre or the local residential neighbourhood and do not satisfy the sequential test.
Furthermore, Retail Parks in Ireland tend to be more successful where they have an
anchor attraction and can attract weekly trade, rather than mainly weekends. Retail
Parks as part of District Centres or adjacent to them perform well. There is the
potential to plan for such provision as part of new community development.
Consequently, locations which are close to existing or new town or district centres and
which can provide good links with a nearby centres are to be preferred. This principle
should be followed.
6.96 Subject to consideration of the range of goods to be sold, which we deal with next, the
development of Retail Parks within the size caps set out in the Retail Planning
Guidelines is unlikely to have an adverse impact on town centres. Where a number of
Retail Parks are proposed in close proximity to a town centre within a short period of
time then it will be necessary to consider the cumulative impact of more than one retail
park on a nearby town centre, especially if the aggregated scale of retail warehouse
development has the potential to match or exceed the total size of the town centre.
However, it would be surprising if there was realistic market support for a scenario in
which two or three full sized Retail Parks could be developed or let adjacent to a
relatively small town centre, unless there were exceptional reasons to justify the size of
catchment area that would be required.
Types of good sold
6.97 What will be an important planning issue in dealing with planning applications for retail
warehousing, and which bears on the scale of development and impact, is the extent to
which Retail Parks in Cork are restricted to bulky goods. In our 2004 report for the two
Councils we concluded that that there was a case to allow the sale of computers, toys
and sports goods from Retail Parks subject to conditions.
6.98 In relation to the sale of computers it is evident that much of the sale of hardware
(mainly computers) to businesses and on-line customers is via a dedicated supplier
direct from a factory or warehouse. Stores in town centres tend to specialise in the
sale of software rather than hardware and the sale of computers from some stores in
Retail Parks is unlikely to adversely affect town centres.
Roger Tym & Partners with Simon Clear & Associates
March 2008 53