An ambitious plan to transform the centre of Sligo by developing a new shopping area has run into trouble. The Chamber of Commerce and a newly-formed group of traders have strongly criticised the £100 million scheme put forward by the developer, Treasury Holdings.
A Sligo Corporation spokesman told The Irish Times the plans were being "misrepresented". He said a public seminar in the town today would explain the proposals. The corporation, Treasury and the National Building Agency will be represented at the seminar.
A Treasury spokesman stressed the current plan was "a working document" and "not the last word by any means". In relation to concerns over access from the development to the main shopping streets, he said two existing exits to O'Connell Street would be maintained. "We have no intention of closing either of these. If the plan shows otherwise, then it is not telling the whole story," Mr John Bruder said.
The development of the Wine Street car-park area is seen as vital to the future of Sligo. The town has failed to develop retail facilities like other towns of similar size and does not attract shoppers from a wide area.
However taking into account the anger being expressed this week by traders whose businesses would be affected, it would appear that a lot of work remains to be done if the development is to go ahead within a reasonable timeframe.
Traders, backed up by the Chamber of Commerce, have complained of a lack of consultation and an attempt to change the original plans. They have accused the corporation of threatening them with Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPOs).
Sligo Chamber of Commerce issued a statement saying: "It has become evident that the Treasury plans would appear completely contrary to the objectives as set out in the original master plan approved in principle by Sligo Corporation in 1999 and supported by the retail traders of Sligo city."
This master plan, which was drawn up by the National Building Agency, set out a number of "critical factors" which the Chamber said are not included in the new proposals. Criticising the lack of consultation, the Chamber statement said "many Chamber members currently within the centre block were completely unaware of their properties' inclusion in Treasury Holdings development proposals".
A newly-formed group, Sligo traders for the master plan, have written to the county manager describing the new plan as "a travesty". They want a facilitator appointed to bring the different property owners together.
They are also angry that after lobbying for special urban renewal tax designation for the area, they may not be able to avail of it before it expires at the end of 2002. They say that because the corporation designated Treasury as the "preferred developer", this has prevented existing businesses from taking advantage of the tax designation.
Senior executive officer with Sligo Corporation, Mr John O'Dwyer, insisted the development would go ahead. He maintained that a lot of the opposition from traders was due to "misinterpretation and misrepresentation". He said people should wait to have the drawings explained by the people who drafted them, rather than basing their judgments on other people's interpretations.
However a public display at the City Hall does little to explain the plans to the public. It consists of just one poster, stuck on to a display unit with tape. It shows two maps, one from the original master plan and one from Treasury architects. The new plan does not show any access points to O'Connell Street, one of the main concerns of traders. There is no explanation beside the poster of what it is, and an observer would certainly not get the impression that this is a significant proposal to transform the heart of the town.
Sligo Chamber of Commerce have complained that there is a concentration of smaller sized units in the new plan, rather than allowing for medium-sized multiple anchor stores, which the master plan argued was needed for.
Mr Bruder said the plan provided for "a mix of large, medium and small units". He also insisted that all traders and property owners had been approached by Treasury, something a number of traders have disputed.
One vegetable shop owner, who said he had received a preliminary offer from Treasury, said he believed he would end up having to pay three times the amount he had been offered for a similar sized unit in the new development. Mr Bruder said such small businesspeople would be "offered a comparable premises in terms of value".
Mr O'Dwyer, who referred to the plan as "an indicative drawing", said the principles in the master plan would be preserved. He said however that he did not believe an existing unit would be equal in value to a unit of the same size in the new development. He said CPOs would only be used as a last resort, and the planning authority would be failing in its responsibility if it did not do this in the event of a small number of property owners holding up development by having "unreasonable price expectations" .