A €20 million development in Ennis by Lidl Ireland has been given the green light by An Bord Pleanala despite claims the plans pose “a significant threat to the vitality and viability of the town”.

The appeals board have upheld a decision by Clare County Council to grant planning permission for the mixed-use development at the junction of the Clare Road and Tobarteascain Road to include the supermarket’s second Ennis store.

According to Lidl, the development will create 30 local jobs along with 100 more during construction. As well as a new store, the plans include residential apartments, a café, playground and commercial units.

The planning application was given the go-ahead by the local authority back in 2023. However an appeal against the decision was later lodged by The Retail Grocery Dairy & Allied Trades Association (RGDATA) who voiced fears over the impact of the plans stating they were “particularly concerned with the planning implications of such a large-scale retail development at this ‘out-of-town’ location on the periphery of Ennis. We are of the opinion that the proposed development represents a significant threat to the vitality and viability of the town centre and should not be permitted.”

Responding to the RGDATA appeal, Lidl argued the site is not an ‘out of centre’ location, but is a designated retail centre in and of itself, disagreeing the neighbourhood centre would compete with the town centre’s offering and draw car-based travellers off the N58/M18.

An inspector with An Bord Pleanala recommended planning permission be granted, finding that the proposals accord with the mixed zoning objective for the area and that the scale and nature of the proposed commercial uses “are appropriate to the area, will create a synergy with the existing commercial block to the north of the site, would accord with the policy and objectives of the development plan and would not impact on the vitality and viability of Ennis town centre.”

Lidl itself also appealed two of the planning authority’s conditions arguing they would “impede the potential success” of the proposed development and were “unwarranted requests”.

Their appeal, lodged on behalf of the retailer by MKO planning, disputed a condition where the developer had to agree to restrict first occupation of residential units to individual purchasers and / or social and / or affordable housing occupants.

The inspector determined the planning authority attached the condition with respect to the regulation of commercial institutional investment in housing “in error” and it is “not warranted”, recommending its removal.

Lidl also appealed against a planning condition requesting €325,000 in Special Development Contribution fees towards an upgrade to the junction between the Tobarteascain Road, Clare Road, College View and the R458, labelling the condition “not warranted and considered excessive”.

The inspector found the improvement works “should not come within the scope of special contributions” and recommended the condition be removed.

While Lidl had not appealed a condition of planning seeking €51,000 for the provision of a footpath and additional traffic calming works on the L4636 Toberteascain Road to the east of the site the inspector found this did not meet with the characteristics of ‘specific exceptional costs’.

The inspector recommended this contribution be reduced to €19,000 to include for additional traffic calming measures only.

The board decided to grant planning permission subject to 28 conditions generally in accordance with the inspector’s recommendations. The board’s order stated the plans meet “the applicable development objective and complies with the zoning for the site”.

It determined the development, subject to compliance of conditions, “would not unduly affect the viability and vitality of Ennis Town centre, would not seriously injure the residential amenities of future occupants in the scheme, or of property in the vicinity, and would be acceptable in terms of flood risk, traffic safety and convenience.”

Among the conditions were a revised car parking layout is required with the proposed playground increased in size and repositioned into a more centrally located position within an enlarged civic space/park area.