Restaurant for park is refused

A PLAN to build a standalone restaurant in the middle of the car park at Wexford Retail Park in Clonard has been turned down by Wexford County Council.

Applicants Eddie and Shane Lynch and Sean and Kieran Carey sought planning permission to construct a cafe/restaurant in the central section of the car park with an outdoor seating area and landscaping.

But Council planners refused the application on the grounds that the proposed development would lead to the net loss of 27 car parking spaces on a site that is a car dependent retail park.

‘ This is considered excessive and the application should be refused on this basis’, advised a planning inspector, advising that the restaurant proposal could readily be incorporated into one of the existing units.

It was considered that the building of the restaurant would reduce the car parking provision well below the requirements of the Wexford Town Plan.

The applicants had submitted that standalone restaurants and cafes are now quite a common and successful development in other parts of the country and contended that the restaurant would compliment the amenity of the area.

The retail park is currently served by 380 car parking spaces including 102 at Aldi, 32 designated spaces at KFC and 246 for the warehouse units.