PLANS FOR A €75 million retail park in Carrickmines, Dublin, are continuing to face objections, including from the owners of Drundrum Town Centre.

Property fund Input secured planning permission from Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council last month, despite concerns expressed by Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) and the National Transport Authority (NTA) about the impact the development would have on traffic volumes, particularly on the M50 motorway.

Dundrum Retail Limited Partnership (DLRP), the company that owns Dundrum Town Centre, has appealed the decision to grant permission to An Bord Pleanála.

While it stated that it has “no objection in principle to the development” of this site, it is “extremely concerned” about its scale.

It argued that any move to promote significant additional retail and leisure space to “out-of-centre” locations such as Carrickmines should be rejected. Instead this should be directed to town and district centres where there is a higher local demand, it claimed.

The submission described the proposed retail floorspace as “excessive for a neighbourhood centre” and claimed there is no “immediate residential catchment population” to justify the level of retail provision.

It also argued that there is no policy justifiable for the level of food and beverage uses proposed for the location and that they will undermine the viability of existing town and district centres.

DLRP said it agreed with previous submissions made by the NTA and TII that this development will contribute to “unsustainable car dependency due to a regional draw and the lack of sufficient local population catchment to justify the scale”.

A local couple has also appealed to An Bord Pleanála, expressing concern about motorists using the curb outside their home to park as this is already a regular occurrence.

DLRP has requested that the planning board hold an oral hearing as part of its determination of this appeal. The case is to be decided by September this year. 

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