SEVERAL SOUTH DUBLIN retailers and hotels have failed in their bid to stop a market from trading weekly along the banks of Grand Canal.
Earlier this year, Waterways Ireland applied for planning permission to continue operating a weekly 16-stall market on either side of the canal at Wilton Terrace and Mespil Road.
The organisation, which is responsible for the maintenance of inland waterways in Ireland, also submitted similar applications to continue its markets near Mount Street Bridge and at the Waterways Ireland Visitor Centre on Grand Canal Quay and also create a new market near Charlemont Place.
Under planning rules, Waterways Ireland is allowed to operate its temporary markets without planning permission for 30 days a year, however permission is required to trade for longer than that.
Permission was previously granted to the organisation in October 2013 to operate weekly markets at the three locations along the canal but that ruling has since expired.
In March, Dublin City Council granted permission to Waterways Ireland to continue its weekly market at Wilton Terrace and Mespil Road for the next three years.
However, the nearby supermarket Donnybrook Fair and food outlet Freshii lodged objections with An Bord Pleanála about the application in a bid to overturn the council’s decision and cancel the weekly market.
Representatives for both retailers said the market at Wilton Terrace and Mespil Road creates a “significant amount of waste and litter”, affects their ability to trade and has an ecological impact on the canal.
Other businesses who noted their objection to the plans with the council included fast-food outlet Beshoffs Bros, the Lansdowne Hotel and the Mespil Hotel.
This week, An Bord Pleanála upheld Dublin council’s decision to grant permission to the market, which will allow Waterways Ireland to continue its weekly market on the banks of the canal.
Cancelled markets
Donnybrook Fair and Freshii also lodged objections with the council against Waterways Ireland’s market plans at its visitor centre on Grand Canal Quay and Mount Street Bridge.
In March, Waterways Ireland was granted approval for a weekly market on Grand Canal Quay and also secured planning permission to hold a new weekly market at Charlemont Place.
However, in the same month its application for a market at Mount Street Bridge was shot down by the council.
The council said the market would be “seriously injurious” to the area and the canal.
It added that allowing the market to trade weekly would be against its policy to “preserve, provide and improve recreational amenity and open space and green infrastructure” along the canal.
Following the refusal, Waterways Ireland said it would continue make use of the planning loophole to operate the Friday market at least 30 days a year.
However, it later wrote to residents and said it would cancel the market.
Written by Killian Woods and posted on Fora.ie
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