The landmark shopping centre at Ferrybank was not due to open for business in the foreseeable future, a meeting of the Piltown Electoral Area Committee of Kilkenny County Council was told in Newrath this week.
Replying to questions from South Kilkenny County Councillors, the Area Engineer, Denis Lawlor, said the shopping centre was not due to open soon. He said he had asked the developer to cover up a number of signs at the development.
Committee Chairman, Cllr Pat Dunphy (FG), said he made certain enquiries regarding footpaths in the area and was given to understand that there would be no immediate opening of the shopping centre.
It was an impressive building and it was lying idle. Another major building, the Ardree Hotel in Ferrybank, ‘had gone to rack and ruin’.
Senior Executive Officer, Anne Marie Walsh, said that, in the present economic climate, there was very little the Council could do to speed up the opening of the shopping centre. The Council had no contact with the developer and could not ask when it was due to open and they did not know the identity of the anchor tenant.
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I work for the company that was rumoured to be the anchor tenant for this shopping centre – the operations director for the company even paid a visit to the centre at the start of this year. This development is desparately needed for Ferrybank when one looks at the residental development that has taken place in the area in the last 15 years. When I moved to Waterford in 1992, the first houses you met on the back road to Belview were in Abbey Park – now look. The Ferrybank area needs amenities and service such as what the shopping centre would provide….
What, the city council don’t know who the anchor tenant is and have not made contact with the developer, what’s up here!
This is in Kilkenny Co Council’s area and has nothing to do with the city council who were against the scheme. It was way too big for the outskirts of the City and would have taken business away from the city centre. In my opinion Kilkenny Co Co gave planning permission for the extra rates they would receive without heed to proper planning. A much smaller district centre would have been more suitable.