Deal for new Tesco site not yet ‘finalised’
Councillors were left stunned by news the sale of lands at Tullacmongan, earmarked for almost a decade for a new Tesco superstore development, has not yet been “finalised”.
The revelation emerged after elected members probed the detail behind a submission from the retail giant to the draft County Development Plan.
The majority of the land is zoned under ‘Town Core’, with a small portion zoned ‘Public and Community’. The submission was to regularise the situation to reflect the proposed planned future use of the 3.86 hectare site.
Planning permission for the new store was first granted back in 2013, and later reaffirmed by An Bord Pleanála following appeal.
In 2020 Tesco Ireland secured an extension of time to complete the development as permission was due to expire in 2023.
The existing planning permission for the site allows for the construction of a larger store than exists at its two Main Street outlets.
In 2011, there were reports Tesco contributed €1.5 million towards the construction of the inner relief road that serves the Cock Hill site, which was owned by the now defunct Cavan Town Council, and transferred into the ownership of Cavan County Council.
Details of the original deal between Cavan Town Council and Tesco were not made available on the grounds that it contained commercially sensitive information.
However, at the draft CDP meeting, under pressure from Fianna Fáil’s Patricia Walsh who asked the executive who owned the site, after a protracted silence, chief executive Tommy Ryan said the “agreement” with Tesco is “still going through the system”.
Asked again by Cllr Walsh if a store would be built on the site, Mr Ryan replied: “Possibly.”
He added then that the “contract of sale hasn’t yet been finalised”.
A vote on the submission from Tesco, that the CDP provides ‘flexible land use zoning objectives’ that allow sites to be brought forward for convenience retail development; and to reflect and accommodate the growth of ‘Click and Collect’ retail services and Grocery Home Shopping, was supported unanimously by elected members.
A spokesperson for Tesco recently informed The Anglo-Celt: “Tesco confirms that the Cavan site continues to be on our property roadmap although there’s no further update at this point.”
Lidl store
Separately, Lidl (Ireland) GmbH made a submission of their town relating to lands owned by the discount grocery retailer at Ballinagh Road.
The company successfully sought a re-zoning of the lands to the north of the existing store from ‘Existing Residential’ to ‘Neighbourhood Centre’ to allow for a future expansion of the business on the site.
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