Controversial Lidl development gets planning go-ahead in Westport

Lidl store to be open by New Year


Áine Ryan

BY JANUARY next shoppers in Westport are set to have the added choice of another international retail outlet with the scheduled opening of discount supermarket, Lidl.
Welcoming An Bord PleanΡla’s decision to grant permission for the new 1,644 square metre licensed store, made last week, David Coakley told The Mayo News yesterday that work on the new project is expected to begin within six weeks.
Mr Coakley’s family owns the site, which is adjacent to the Northern Feather complex at The Demesne, off the Newport Road.
“Obviously, we are very pleased that the board has given permission for the project. We believe it will be good for the people of Westport since it adds to the choices they have in shopping,” David Coakley said.
It is just over a year ago since The Mayo News exclusively revealed that the low-cost retail giant planned to open a supermarket on part of the site of Northern Feather.
Then after Westport Town Council granted planning permission for the development last March, the decision was appealed to An Bord PleanΡla.
During this period many town councillors expressed reservations about the location of the site and its adjacency to the Newport Road, which is often gridlocked due to traffic congestion.
At the time, Fianna FΡil’s Cllr Margaret Adams, a local resident, observed: “I think the access and exit points for this new store are all wrong. People are already complaining about the traffic levels and this development will impact seriously on the congestion already experienced by drivers.”
Echoing Cllr Adams’s views, the Cathaoirleach of the town council, Cllr Tereasa McGuire told The Mayo News yesterday that, while she and her colleagues had expressed their opinions about the location, ‘ultimately such planning decisions were with the executive’.
“Of course I welcome any development that brings employment to the town. But I do have a reservation about the location of this shop because of the traffic congestion. Local residents have also expressed these concerns,” Cllr McGuire said.
The new Lidl store will have an 86-space car park, with hard and soft landscaping and a public lighting system. Among the planning conditions imposed is the widening of the existing North Wood pathway. Vehicular and pedestrian safety is prioritised in many of the conditions also.