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FERMANAGH and Omagh District Council is missing out on more than £20,000 in planning fees because of how it has classified proposals for a major Sainsbury’s superstore in Omagh, it has been claimed.
Planning permission is being sought by the supermarket giant for a new multi-million-pound store on the Great Northern Road, which is expected to create around 100 full and part-time jobs, if approved.
But Retail NI, which opposes the development, argues that the application has been wrongly categorised as a retail warehouse rather than a ‘change of use’ – a decision it says significantly reduces the fee payable to the council.
The organisation formally lodged its concerns last week.
“The expression ‘you can paint stripes on a cow but it doesn’t make it a zebra’ springs to mind,” said Andy Stephens of Matrix Planning Consultancy, representing Retail
NI.
“For the avoidance of doubt, you cannot make a bulk-goods retail warehouse permission into a foodstore under an S54 planning application.
“A foodstore is an entirely different form of retailing and was not permitted for Units 4 and 5 under either the outline permission or the reserved matters that followed.
“This site was never considered for a foodstore of this size, scale or magnitude.”
Retail NI has also criticised the parking surveys submitted as part of the proposal, describing them as ‘a fudge at best and irrational at worst’.
The group questioned whether Omagh traders would ‘sit on their hands’ over the plans, drawing parallels with the controversial approval for Lidl Lakelands outside Enniskillen.
“It is a town-centre-first approach, not town-centre-last… and the council might do well to remember it,” Mr Stephens added.
Fermanagh and Omagh District Council is expected to rule on the Sainsbury’s application in the New Year.
