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Limerick city centre loses out to the suburban 'doughnut effect'
THREE times the number of retail permitted under the 2003 Mid-West Retail Strategy has received planning permission by councils in the Mid-West area, according to a senior planner in the city.
Limerick City Council, working with Limerick, Clare and North Tipperary county councils, are now devising what their next retail strategy should be.
The report is due to be published before the summer. However a draft copy of the Limerick City Development Plan 2010-2016 describes the challenges the lie ahead in terms of developing the city centre.
It states that the suburbs have now "demoted the city centre from the top of the retail hierarchy" as the county council now accounts for 43 per cent of the total floor space, while the city centre only accounts for 34 per cent, compared to 54 per cent in 2002.
"The demotion of the city centre in such a way is contrary to national, regional and local policy. It is evident that the role of the city centre in the national hierarchy is under serious threat and such a demotion of the importance of the city centre will impact negatively on the region's competitiveness," it states.
Kieran Reeves, senior executive planner with the city council, now believes there should be "a moratorium on new retail developments in the suburbs" to allow retail to prosper in the city.
"The city centre has lost out and we're addressing that. But this isn't just a city council problem, it requires a massive solution. A lot of small traders out there are working just as hard as the big developers and we shouldn't lose sight of them," said Mr Reeves.
Jim Barrett, a former city architect with both Limerick and Dublin city councils, said recently that one of the issues that "screams" at him when he comes back to Limerick is the level of development on the periphery.
"The whole doughnut effect is nowhere more manifest than in Limerick and the city centre is dying. People in the regeneration keeping talking about getting people back into the city, but the issue I see is that there are no attractions in the city. That's why I think the Opera Centre scheme is of such huge importance to the city. It won't redress it totally, but it starts a new state," said Mr Barrett.
However, given the present economic pressure, Mr Reeves said we shouldn't be pinning our hopes on upcoming, large scale developments.
Instead, we need to focus on the consolidation of existing projects, such as the GPO development on Henry Street, and ensure that such developments are occupied.
He said the council are trying to put in place strategies to help traders, such as greater pedestrianisation and the proposed Orbital Route.
The draft development states that both the Orbital Route and the Opera Centre should help "kick-start a reverse in the decline of the retail offer in the city centre".
Mr Reeves said figures of the exact number of vacant units in the city centre have not yet been made available, but should be contained within the revised Mid-West Retail Strategy.
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Tuesday 07 February 2012
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