Planning delay could cost Derry 300 jobs
Concern is growing that Derry could miss out on around 300 jobs because of a three-year planning application delay for a proposed Buncrana Road retail development.
Developer MKA Planning first lodged plans for a food store and a park-and-ride facility on Derry's Buncrana Road in 2006 when it was announced that 6000 new homes were to be built in the area on the northern side of the border.
But three years on those proposals remain in planning limbo while a major development on the Donegal side of the border is close to being given the green light by planners in the South.
It is now feared approval of the Donegal plans, lodged on behalf of Emerald Holdings and providing for a restaurant/cafes and a major retail tenant, will sound the death knell for the development on the Derry side of the border - and the 300 jobs it would create.
A source told the 'Journal' the lengthy delay in planning approval in the North could now make the southern development a much more appealing and immediate prospect.
"Food retailers, interested in the northern site but frustrated at the long delays in the NI planning system, may yet opt to move across the border to Donegal where the planning process is significantly faster and delivers development much quicker on the ground," the source said.
"If permission is granted for the scheme in Bridgend before the Buncrana Road scheme it is likely that prospective retailers may prefer to set up in Donegal rather than continue to wait. Derry will then have again lost out on a major investment opportunity."
If Donegal County Council planners give the Emerald Holdings scheme the green light the developers say they'll move in by next summer.
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Weather for Derry
Monday 13 February 2012
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