NEWS a planning application for a major retail and leisure park in Enniskillen has been given the green light has been widely welcomed locally.
Some have continued to express concern about the impact the multi-million pound development – which will include a new hotel, cinema, garden centre, coffee shops and bowling alley – will have on existing town centre business. However, overall the public response to news the Council’s planning committee had approved planning permission of the development yesterday has been overwhelmingly positive, prompting wide spread celebrations across social media.
The Council’s planning officers had twice published a report recommending planning permission be denied for the Lakelands Retail and Leisure Park on the Cornagrade Road, stating it was too far out of town and could harm the town centre. They also stated other sites they felt were more suitable were available elsewhere in the town, specifically naming a number of sites such as TP Toppings and the planned Station Green development at Hollyhill.
However, it was elected councillors who had the final say on the development and at yesterday’s Planning Committee, the representatives rejected the planners’ recommendation and gave the plans the go ahead. With the vote split five-five, Sinn Fein’s Cllr Glen Campbell had the casting vote.
Before the vote Cllr Tommy Maguire, who is originally from nearby the planned development at the old Unipork site, told the committee he believed the retail park location, which is just over a five minute walk from the planned Station Green site, was closer to the town centre than the planners had implied.
For more on this story see next week’s Fermanagh Herald.
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