by Bernie English [email protected]
A LIMERICK city councillor has asked the local authority to pre-empt a planning appeal decision on the Parkway Valley/Horizon Mall development and make plans for amenities at the derelict site on the Dublin Road.
The council turned down an application for a scaled down shopping centre on the site and this was appealed to An Bord Pleanala with a decision due shortly.
Cllr Cian Prendevlle (AAA) said that he wanted the council to be ready to “move fast” to develop “alternative social and community uses” for the site.
Local residents in the Castletroy View and Carn na Ree estates are fed up with having a monstrosity outside their front doors, according to Sinn Féin Cmhlr Séighin Ó Ceallaigh.
Cmhlr Ó Ceallaigh told the meeting “Having spoken with 50 households in Castletroy View and Carn na Ree who have had to put up with this eyesore for years, 35 of them wanted to see the site developed; ten wanted it demolished and 5 wanted to see anything at all done with it.
“But the message was clear. Residents want something done with the site soon”, he said.
He said the site had become a hub for anti-social behaviour, and poses a threat to anyone who ventures on to it.
“It is only a matter of time before someone is injured or possibly worse. Many of these people are paying high mortgages and have young families and they should not have to put up with this half-developed site.”
The development is currently going through An Bord Pleanála, and I am hopeful that after their decision is made, that the elected representatives of Limerick City East sit down with local residents, council officials, and local traders, to come up with a solution to this problem”, he said.
But council officials told the meeting that the outline planning permission does not officially expire until 2016, making it impossible for them to do anything until them.
