A revised planning application for a major development on the site of the old Glanbia plant in Dungarvan town centre is to be made shortly. Clancy Construction, which had a previous scheme for the site rejected by An Bord Pleanála in January, hopes to have the new application before Dungarvan Town Council in four to six weeks.
The company's managing director, Mr Billy Clancy, said it was having "severe difficulty" meeting the requirements of the Dungarvan town plan and the planning board's decision, while also keeping the project commercially viable.
However, he was confident that a way around the problems could be found. Like the previous scheme, the new one will incorporate retail, commercial and residential development on the 40-acre site. It is being redesigned, however, to meet An Bord Pleanála's concerns, said Mr Clancy.
Supporters of the old project, including the town council, claimed it was one of the most exciting envisaged for Dungarvan, and would revitalise the town centre. It would give the town its first major shopping centre, with Dunnes Stores as the anchor tenant, and retain business currently being lost to other major towns in the region, they argued.
But the family grocers' body, RGDATA, An Taisce and Friends of the Irish Environment successfully appealed the council's decision to grant planning permission for the project to An Bord Pleanála. The board said it would be "alien and out of character" with the adjacent Grattan Square linear street pattern.
Mr Clancy said he hoped that even if a new permission was appealed, the previous examination carried out by the board would enable it to make a quicker decision.
As well as a shopping centre, the previous scheme included plans for apartments, houses, a pub and multi-screen cinema. About 200 jobs were to be created in the construction phase, while about 350 people would have been employed in the shopping centre.