*Fr Harry Bohan. Photograph: Eamon Ward
PROMINENT CLARE priest, Fr Harry Bohan has expressed fears for local retailers in Sixmilebridge in response to plans by German discount giant, Lidl to construct a new store there.
The application by Lidl for Sixmilebridge is facing local opposition and Fr Bohan has told Clare County Council in a submission that Sixmilebridge “is changing fast, probably too fast. Our local, human, social values are threatened”.
He said, “We need our local shops and businesses to survive, always did. When they are threatened we need our community to be aware of that threat”.
Fr Bohan asked, “Are The Bridge people well enough serviced by discount stores in the surrounding area?”
Local retailer, Flora Crowe welcomed the intervention of Fr Bohan in the planning row. “Fr Harry is a visionary and has always been a huge supporter of community and supporter of all businesses in Sixmilebridge. If he believes in that then we need to take stock of what he says,” she said.
Ms Crowe operates two retail outlets locally, employing 50 people and the enterprise is this year celebrating 40 years in business.
Ms Crowe said, “Lidl may not come in overnight and close us down but they will slowly edge away and they will take from our business.
She said, “If a Lidl came into Sixmilebridge it would change the very fabric of Sixmilebridge and rural Ireland. I know consumers need choice but we have to protect the fabric of rural society”.
Ms Crowe said that a young man recently took over a local butchers “and we have to protect him and we have to protect the village”.
In her formal objection against the proposal, Ms Crowe has told the Council that “I believe the proposed Lidl store would seriously undermine the economic viability and social fabric of Sixmilebridge”.
In a planning report lodged by consultants for Lidl, Tony Bamford Planning, it states that Lidl Ireland GmbH is proposing the development “of a relatively small supermarket with a gross floor area of 2,290 sqm and a net sales area of 1,499 sqm”.
Mr Bamford states that “in smaller supermarkets like this one, the sales area is primarily focused on convenience sales, accounting for approximately 80 per cent of the sales area”.
Mr Bamford points out that the application site is currently vacant agricultural land zoned for Mixed Use.
Mr Bamford said, “The development will not have a material, adverse, impact on the vitality and viability of the town centre of Sixmilebridge. The proposed development accords with the prevailing retail objectives for the town and that must take precedence over diversion of trade from competing retail”.
Mr Bamford states that “overall, the application site is the optimal location for the proposed supermarket, given its proximity to the town centre, meeting the criteria for suitability, availability, and viability, and adhering to the guidelines and requirements for retail development”.
He said, “A dominant focus of retail policy in the County Development Plan is to see the growth of main food shopping retail in the smaller towns like Sixmilebridge”.
The Council is due to make a decision on the application this week.
