Traders in Dundalk and Drogheda are objecting to plans for a large shopping development between Dundalk and Newry. The application for 100 shop units, 1,600 car spaces and three restaurants on 11.6 hectares will require a material contravention of the Co Louth Development Plan.
The Drogheda Retailers' Association has joined its counterpart in Dundalk to oppose the shopping "village". Mr Hubert Tully, president of the Drogheda branch, said that if the development goes ahead, "it could destroy the hearts of Drogheda and Dundalk".
"Even if we lose 10 to 15 per cent of trade, small businesses will close." He said the development would attract shoppers within a 90-minute travelling distance.
"That stretches from Belfast to Dublin and into the west. To be viable it will have to suck consumers from a 50-mile radius. We have already been affected by Blanchardstown Shopping Centre," he said. The land earmarked for the shopping village is adjacent to the Ballymascanlon roundabout on the outskirts of Dundalk, on the main Dublin to Belfast road. The planning application to Louth County Council was made in the name of SDP No 1 Ltd, Bedford Street, Belfast. The application was received in July and within a week, the Dundalk Retailers' Association was objecting.
Its written submission claimed that "it would represent a counter-magnet to the existing established shopping areas and would have a negative impact on established retailing hierarchy in the country and, in particular, Dundalk".
A draper, Mr Austin Reed, said: "We perceive this as a major threat to retailing in Dundalk. It will take people off the major routes and they will spend their money there and go. I am a sole trader and if it goes head, I can see it closing shops here."
In recent years the Long Walk Shopping Centre opened in Dundalk and the Carroll's shopping village, also in the town centre, where Superquinn will be the anchor tenant, is almost completed. The retailers fear that business in the new centre will also be badly hit if planning permission is granted for the new village. A decision is due by the end of the year.