Dunnes Stores required to file revised plans for Crumlin site

DUNNES Stores has been warned its project to redevelop Crumlin Shopping Centre in Dublin can’t be approved unless hundreds of proposed car parking spaces are removed.

In March, Dunnes Stores filed plans with the local authority to redevelop the vacant shopping centre which would include a food market, café, four other retail units, a gym and library.

Dunnes planned to provide 400 car parking spaces, even though there is currently 500 spaces at the site.

The National Transport Authority raised concerns about “over-provision” of car parking in Dunnes proposal, and asked Dublin City Council to consider how the centre could be a “less car-orientated development”.

A report by the council’s transport division said only 114 car parking spaces are permissible due to restrictions by the city development plan.

“The applicant proposed 250 per cent in excess of the maximum development plan standards.

“The restriction of car parking at destination as a travel demand management measure has been embedded in Dublin City Council’s development plan policies since the 2005-2011 development plan,” said the report.

The report said Dunnes cannot gain permission for more than 70 per cent of the car parking at the development and to lodge a revised plan with 286 fewer car parking spaces.

It said, “excessive over provision of car parking would encourage car travel over sustainable modes and contravene city policy.”

Dunnes Stores is required to file revised plans before the council make a decision on whether to approve the project.

Opened in 1974, Crumlin Shopping Centre is largely vacant the last two decades with Dunnes as the anchor tenant.

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