A €100 million shopping centre on the outskirts of Limerick city with potential for 2,000 jobs is not all its cracked up to be, according to a group of local councillors.
Anti-Austerity Alliance councillors have expressed serious concern that the Parkway Valley project will do nothing but “further the doughnut effect, resulting in more jobs being lost” in smaller city centre shops.
However, the Belfast-based developer behind the project, Suneil Sharma, has now taken a leaf out of Garth Brooks’ book with an ‘all or nothing’ approach to the project. He has vowed to walk away from the development if Limerick City and County Council rejects his plans.
AAA councillor for City East, Paul Keller, who lives in the adjacent Castletroy View, has called for the half-constructed ‘Horizon Mall’ to be levelled. He says the area would be better served if the Council developed the site for sports, and other community facilities as well as social and affordable housing.
“It has been left as an eyesore for years, in what can only be described as an anti-social act of the highest order,” claimed Cllr Keller.
“It should never have been given planning permission in the first place, because of the number of existing shopping centres in the area, and the crucial need to reverse the trend of shoppers leaving the city centre, resulting in huge job losses and deterioration in town,” he said.
One prominent city businessman this week described the development as good news for Limerick in regard to its potentials to create 2,000 jobs, but regarded it as another deathblow for a city centre already dying on its feet.
“This is not good news for the city centre. Someone high up in the Council needs to make a landmark gesture to bring in free parking in the city. It would be a bold move but it would certainly help,” he said.
Sinn Fein councillor for City North, Maurice Quinlivan, said he would support the project if the 2,000 jobs being cited for the development prove feasible. However, Cllr Quinlivan confessed that he would prefer to see plans for the Opera Centre development in the city go ahead.
“I would have deep concerns that the Horizon Mall development would not only damage the city centre but also the Crescent Shopping Centre,” said Cllr Quinlivan.
Meanwhile, Fine Gael TD for Limerick, Kieran O’Donnell, is working with local traders to reform city centre parking and has held discussions with the Limerick local authority on firm proposals.
Included among Deputy O’Donnell’s proposals are loading bays being converted to parking spaces after a certain time of the day to free up to 300 car parking spaces for shoppers. He is also calling for customers to be charged for parking after 10am rather 9.30am.
“There are much broader issues relating to parking in the city to be dealt with, but certainly putting measures such as these in place relatively quickly could provide the momentum to start working on a broader basis,” said Deputy O’Donnell.
“The rejuvenation of the city centre is a key issue for me, and one on which I will continue to campaign, with both the local authority and the traders,” he said.
