Cllrs reject zoning plan that would have paved way for Kells Lidl store

Councillors maintained retail outlet was inappropriate on the eastern approach to the heritage and tourist town

Councillors have given a firm thumbs down to a land zoning plan that would have paved the way for a new Lidl store on the Navan Road approaches to the town.

The zoning would have given Lidl the opportunity to locate the store in a field just past the cemetery and running up towards the heritage centre at the old courthouse on one side and the former Eureka school on the other.

The councillors, who had been considering Meath County Council chief executive’s report on material amendments to the draft 2021-2027 county development plan, maintained that a Lidl store was inappropriate on the Eastern approach to the heritage and tourist town.

Councillors voted by 27 votes to two to reject the chief executive’s recommendation that there was no need to change the zoning from C1 (residential and business) to D1 (tourism). Cathaoirleach Sean Drew said that the council had spent millions on promoting tourism in the town.

There was no question but that Lidl would be welcome in Kells and would bring competition, and there was plenty of land zoned elsewhere in the town, but the site on the Navan Road was the wrong location.

The councillors also dealt with other proposed material amendments to the plan:

Clonard: The councillors voted by 34 votes to one to reject the chief executive’s recommendation not to change zoning on a piece of land there from rural to C1 community infrastructure, F1 open space and A2 new residential. Fine Gael Cllr Joe Fox said that if we were going to keep small villages like Clonard alive, it would be necessary to bring in the type of zoning that this required.

“Clonard is a small village on the edge of the N4 and it’s not as if the village is going to explode”, he said. Cllr Noel French said that Clonard was quite small with a very active community and it ought to be allowed to expand so as to keep the community alive.

Bettystown, Laytown, Mornington, Donacarney: Cllrs dealt with a proposal to amend the zoning on lands there from R/A rural area to A2 new residential, F1 open space and D1 tourism. The chief executive said that this zoning had been raised in submissions, in particular from the Office of the Planning Regulator, and she recommended the removal of this proposed zoning from the development plan.

Fine Gael Cllr Sharon Tolan was in favour of the zoning but Social Democrat Cllr Ronan Moore said that if land A or B was designated by the OPW as being in a flood zone, then councillors had to take responsibility for that. They had to think about what was going to happen in 20 or 30 years time, he said. The CE’s recommendation was accepted by 29 votes to four.

Oldcastle: The councillors voted to rezone land to allow for residential development in the Millbrook Road area. They also voted to dezone residential land to the North of the town and apply residential zoning to a seven-acre piece of land to the South of the town. The CE had recommended against making this decision. Fine Gael Cllr Sarah Reilly proposed voting against the CE recommendation as she believed this would improve the chances of getting good quality housing in Oldcastle. “I feel we are putting all our eggs in the one basket by having all the residential zoning in the North of the town”.

Fianna Fail Cllr Mike Bray said that the land to the North had been zonwed for many years but there had been no building on it. Sinn Fein Cllr Michael Gallagher said he would support the rezoning as it improved the chances of more housing for Oldcastle.