Lidl application will lead to "urban planning warfare"

Dunboyne councillor Damien O'Reilly has warned that plans by Lidl to open a store in the village would end up in "urban planning warfare" and said the community would use every tool in the planning system to stop the application.

He made the comments after Tuesday night's zoom briefing by Lidl and has accused the retailer of planning to destroy the village of Dunboyne.

"I expect this proposal to end up in 'urban planning warfare' and this process may go on for four or five years similar to the situation in Douglas in Cork, Clonmel in Tipperary and the ongoing issue over the Lidl site in Kells, as residents want Lidl in Kells but not at the site they own.

“The community is enraged and will use every tool in the planning system to stop this application in the planning system including judicial review in the High Court," he said.

Many locals were deeply dissatisfied by the format of Tuesday night's zoom briefing and also the tone of the meeting, with many feeling it gave the impression that Lidl was doing them a favour, with the changes they were proposing in the village. There were also reports that some people had trouble logging on, though it is understood extra capacity was then put on.

The Lidl panel included Brian Smyth and Damien Ryan of the Lidl Property team, a planning consultant, traffic and transportation consultation, a landscape architect and architect as well as Lidl's communications representatives.

A following up drop in session has been arranged for Tuesday night, 1st February at 6.30pm in the Oak Centre when residents will have a chance to meet with Lidl representatives face to face.

According to Lidl, members of the Dunboyne community will be able to peruse the proposed plans for the new Lidl store and have a one-on-one chat with the Lidl team.

Speaking after Tuesday's zoom session, local councillor Maria Murphy said many people felt the meeting was unsatisfactory and prefer personal engagement. "Because the webinar was one way, it left people feeling even more unsatisfied as people had initially felt it would be a two-way meeting."

She said it appeared there were a large number of people on the Zoom webinar. "I had a lot of engagement my own platforms and private messages following the meeting with people telling me their impressions of the meeting which was highly arranged to give an impression that there was nothing wrong with any aspects of their project and for the most part that they were doing us a favour by coming to Dunboyne.

"It is well recognised now by anyone who lives here and by those who have sent in correspondence to Lidl that there are a number of challenges with the site not least the single approach to the area by the village green and the level of traffic in that part of Dunobyne. The roadside glass buildings are also an issue because their look is not in keeping with the parochial house and the church which are historical buildings."

It emerged at the meeting that Lidl is proposing that part of the island outside Brady's would be realigned including removing one tree and taking away a disabled place to widen the road so a right turn can be put in at the old schoolhouse. Lidl is also proposing to extend the footpath to the church entrance and landscaping the area.

A planning application has not yet been lodged but is expected to be submitted to Meath County Council in the coming weeks.