Kingscourt supervalu development gets green light

Paul Neilan

A new Supervalu is to be built on the Kells Road in Kingscourt, after appealed planning permission was granted on Friday (October 24).
In May, permission was granted by Cavan County Council on an April application, which drew multiple appeals, which were last week rejected by the planning authority.
The Supervalu will be at Lisanaskey on a site owned by Kingscourt Community Enterprise Centre - the community group with charity status whose directors are listed as re-elected councillor Clifford Kelly, Patrick Donagh, Sean Gargan, Kenneth H Gilmore and John James (Sean) Corcoran.
The application is a contract-to-purchase meaning that the applicants, Parkside Germon, will buy the site on the granting of permission to develop. None of the directors can benefit from the transaction and all money will go back into the company.
The address of the site is Kells Road, Lisaniskey, and the application is from Parkside Gemon Developments Ltd, whose directors are Brendan and Patricia Carolan and their application summary reads that permission is sought for: ‘A SuperValu supermarket with ancillary off licence (1,394sqm gross floor area of which 929sqm is net retail sales area). Permission is also sought for car parking (83 spaces), service yard, plant, building mounted and freestanding signage, bicycle parking, hard and soft landscaping, boundary treatments and all associated site and development works.
Cllr Kelly said it was “a fantastic day for Kingscourt and everyone I have been speaking to is thrilled and delighted - this will be a huge boost and benefit to all the people of Kingscourt. If all the traders come together now there is a wonderful oppurtunity with all the developments that are happening in the town.”
In a summary submitted on behalf of Parkside it was proposed that the existing Main Street Supervalu be closed should the application be successful for the Kells Road site.
‘Supervalu stores are required to meet specified standards from the Musgrave Group,’ the summary reads. ‘The existing Kingscourt Supervalu does not meet the standard and there is a need to secure a more suitable, modern premises.’
The planning file notes that the existing SuperValu is 25 years old and accepts that it was not possible to redevelop the existing SuperValu due to the size of the site and ‘topographical constraints’.