Council vote on new Westside Tesco

Fey!

Does anyone know when the revote on the rezoning of land in Westside to potentially make way for a Tesco is due to take place?

For reference, this is what I'm talking about:

http://www.galwaynews.ie/18687-high-court-bid-overturn-refusal-big-retail-centre

Thanks.

emptybladder

Well the next meeting is the end of this month and that's to vote on new mayor, so I guess pretty close to the July 11 deadline. There was a story o galwaynews last weekend

what_traffic

Based on:

http://www.galwaynews.ie/19886-new-vote-may-pave-way-%E2%82%AC35m-hypermarket
New vote may pave way for €35m hypermarket June 10, 2011 - 7:15am

"
In the High Court on Tuesday, Mr Justice George Birmingham said that specific vote should be re-taken by July 11, and awarded two-thirds of the costs of the proceedings to Mr O’Higgins.
"

dell1211

I really hope that this does not happen. If it does Galway will have 2 large tesco shops, 1 hyper tesco and 2 tesco express.

Fair enough the petrol station will be good for galway as it will force other stations to reduce prices(like claremorris) but as for the rest its only going to damage galway in the long term, local family run businesses will close(bakerys, butcher, fish mongers, DIY shops, music shops, chemists, newsagents, off licences, clothes shops........), keep people away from the city centre and not to mention damage local suppliers. Each week there are hundreds of tesco trucks bringing in goods from the UK that can be produced in Ireland/Galway but they arent because Tesco have such a monopoly on suppliers that they can name their prices and only the very large suppliers win, for example look at cold meat counter, most of their meat comes from the UK(except the likes of denny/galtee). We should learn from the mistakes made in towns in the UK where they have become ghost areas due to tescos dominance.

Ill prob be accused of being a shill again, this time on behalf of aldi or dunnes and this thread will probably get locked like my gobus one was. So much for supporting local business at a time when they need it the most.

Fey!

From my understanding of it, this is where it would be.

Personally I don't think that it is necessary, and I don't want to see it happen.

Not only are there plenty of other shopping centres within shouting distance, but there is no infrastructure to support the extra traffic.

I am going to be writing to the coucillors about it, and I hope that many others do,too.

snubbleste

There are 5 Dunnes' in Galway..

I don't really care if there is a Tesco/Supermarket there tbh. I think it's a good location, act as a balance to the strip of supermarkets on the Headford Road.

Fey!

snubbleste wrote: »

There are 5 Dunnes' in Galway..

I don't really care if there is a Tesco/Supermarket there tbh. I think it's a good location, act as a balance to the strip of supermarkets on the Headford Road.

6 Dunnes, or 7 if you take the clothes and off license in Eyre Square seperately.

Considering that the junctions from Rahoon Road, Old Seamus Quirke Road and Bothar Le Cheile onto Seamus Quirke Road can't deal efficiently with the traffic flow, and are downright dangerous, how would you propose to deal with the extra traffic brought in by yet another supermarket/shopping centre?

c_man

Weren't Tesco originally located where Dunnes are in the Westside shopping centre back in the 80's? I'm almost 100% sure that's correct. If so, they have every right to come back to their land - just like the Israelis.

Robbo

c_man wrote: »

Weren't Tesco originally located where Dunnes are in the Westside shopping centre back in the 80's? I'm almost 100% sure that's correct. If so, they have every right to come back to their land - just like the Israelis.

Tesco are god's chosen people?

Seriously, I think this proposal is mental from a traffic point of view. Tesco would be much better off shellacking Joyces and occupying that.

Of course the council wouldn't be in this mess and would be ~€80k better off in legal fees if our esteemed representatives didn't behave like children at meetings.

johngalway

dell1211 wrote: »

I really hope that this does not happen. If it does Galway will have 2 large tesco shops, 1 hyper tesco and 2 tesco express.

Fair enough the petrol station will be good for galway as it will force other stations to reduce prices(like claremorris) but as for the rest its only going to damage galway in the long term, local family run businesses will close(bakerys, butcher, fish mongers, DIY shops, music shops, chemists, newsagents, off licences, clothes shops........), keep people away from the city centre and not to mention damage local suppliers. Each week there are hundreds of tesco trucks bringing in goods from the UK that can be produced in Ireland/Galway but they arent because Tesco have such a monopoly on suppliers that they can name their prices and only the very large suppliers win, for example look at cold meat counter, most of their meat comes from the UK(except the likes of denny/galtee). We should learn from the mistakes made in towns in the UK where they have become ghost areas due to tescos dominance.

Ill prob be accused of being a shill again, this time on behalf of aldi or dunnes and this thread will probably get locked like my gobus one was. So much for supporting local business at a time when they need it the most.

Agree with you entirely.

beardybrewer

It hardly seems far away enough from Terryland to warrant it. I'd prefer to see it closer to B&Q. Or if they would just knock the existing one and put in proper parking so it wasn't such a pain that would work too. I avoid Lidl/Argos/Tesco due to the horrible parking. In fact, almost every carpark in galway is horrible. Even the new Dunnes/B&Q carpark seems to have been designed by an absolute idiot. Who places the entrance for the underground parking at the furthest point from the entrance of the carpark? It's almost always empty down there if you wade through all the traffic to actually get to the ramp down to it.

GerardKeating

newkie wrote: »

Even the new Dunnes/B&Q carpark seems to have been designed by an absolute idiot. Who places the entrance for the underground parking at the furthest point from the entrance of the carpark? It's almost always empty down there if you wade through all the traffic to actually get to the ramp down to it.

I think that would have been solved in phase II, (the large pit to the right on the centre, what is build is only half the development.

beardybrewer

Oh, you guys mention traffic and you're probably right despite turning Seamus Quirke Rd in to a 4 lane road. Have you guys heard as well that the extra lanes will just be bus lanes? It seems a new Tesco would force them to open up those lanes to everyone.

emptybladder

Tesco closed their westside store in the mid 80s and it was H Williams then for a while

beardybrewer

GerardKeating wrote: »

I think that would have been solved in phase II, (the large pit to the right on the centre, what is build is only half the development.

That might be it. And also it seems the designers intended for you to go straight but they immediately closed that up forcing everyone to turn left towards B&Q. If those cones weren't there you could go straight over to dunes, turn right, then right again and down the ramp. Still not brilliant but would cut out a certain amount of traffic.

Pure Sound

c_man wrote: »

Weren't Tesco originally located where Dunnes are in the Westside shopping centre back in the 80's? I'm almost 100% sure that's correct. If so, they have every right to come back to their land - just like the Israelis.

Are you actually joking or are you trying to get a reaction from people

Back on topic, that seems to be the T O'Higgins factory, are they closing down or something, What would happen to the Simon Community shop. I agree with previous posters, we don't need it, it would be terrible for traffic - Rahoon Rd is already way too congested and it would be bad for local business and the town centre in general.

Aerohead

I agree with some of the posters here that there is no need for any more supermarkets in the area, as a matter of fact I could see a lot of objections to this from Dunnes and Aldi and who could blame them. Tesco seem to jump on the bandwagon where ever Dunnes and the like set up shop its just over the top with this development, what could really happen is job losses in the existing shopping centre if this went ahead, there is not enough customers in this town to support a shop this size.

dmcg90

Seeing as there is always pretty big queues in Tesco and Dunnes in peak hours I do think it could, I would still prefer if the Headford Road branch was extended to incorporate the old Atlantic Homecare, the shop is just too small for the amount it sells.

emptybladder

Don't forget, Aldi are trying to get planning on a site in knocknacarra across from monkey business also. It'll be near the new medical centre. Which in itSelf will be handy for the customers of the new KFC drive thru going in up there!

_Whimsical_

newkie wrote: »

It hardly seems far away enough from Terryland to warrant it. I'd prefer to see it closer to B&Q. Or if they would just knock the existing one and put in proper parking so it wasn't such a pain that would work too. I avoid Lidl/Argos/Tesco due to the horrible parking. In fact, almost every carpark in galway is horrible. Even the new Dunnes/B&Q carpark seems to have been designed by an absolute idiot. Who places the entrance for the underground parking at the furthest point from the entrance of the carpark? It's almost always empty down there if you wade through all the traffic to actually get to the ramp down to it.

I was talking to someone who's working there the other day and he was saying that if they move to move to westside they'd probably be leaving the terry land premises. Theres very little room for storage there already and no room to diversify into clothes and stocking more electronics etc. Apparently the Westside site is particularly attractive to them for the huge storage it would offer which would save a lot of money as they'd need less frequent stock deliveries.At the moment it seems they need very regular deliveries and servicing so many deliveries isn't very financially beneficial.

Personally I think it's a bad idea. Right behind the proposed site is a quiet residential area which I'm sure would be largely change by introduction of a hyper Market on their doorsteps and by traffic changes. I hope that local communities will voice some objections.

Webbs

If Dunnes hadnt had such a monopoly on putting up stores in every development in Town and that other retailers had had a look in then we probably wouldnt be in this situation.
Where were the planners when knocknacarra and Briarhill were being put up and stopping Dunnes moving in.

kayos

Webbs wrote: »

Where were the planners when knocknacarra and Briarhill were being put up and stopping Dunnes moving in.

While I agree with you on the fact dunnes in knocknacarra should have been a different chain I dont think the planners would really have a say in what chain goes in.

dell1211

Webbs wrote: »

If Dunnes hadnt had such a monopoly on putting up stores in every development in Town and that other retailers had had a look in then we probably wouldnt be in this situation.
Where were the planners when knocknacarra and Briarhill were being put up and stopping Dunnes moving in.

Planners/councilors cant have a preference for either dunnes or tesco, their objection has to be based on the merits of the development itself, eg traffic / suitability.

Both Dunnes and Tesco had a bidding war over briarhill with the owner of the shopping centre, dunnes won it was nothing to do with the planners

beardybrewer

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

I was talking to someone who's working there the other day and he was saying that if they move to move to westside they'd probably be leaving the terry land premises. Theres very little room for storage there already and no room to diversify into clothes and stocking more electronics etc. Apparently the Westside site is particularly attractive to them for the huge storage it would offer which would save a lot of money as they'd need less frequent stock deliveries.At the moment it seems they need very regular deliveries and servicing so many deliveries isn't very financially beneficial.

Personally I think it's a bad idea. Right behind the proposed site is a quiet residential area which I'm sure would be largely change by introduction of a hyper Market on their doorsteps and by traffic changes. I hope that local communities will voice some objections.

v. interesting about logistic problems of terryland site.

Well I for one wouldn't mind a better commercial offering in Westside, we already have a Dunnes, Aldi, DIY, and more there. However, I think the entire area could be redeveloped and done properly. I think we could lose the Westside Dunnes and the strip of stores across the street from it. I think the industrial estate behind Dunnes could also be repurposed for commercial, move those businesses to the many empty offices around town then flatten the entire area, throw in a big Tesco, M&S, and HomeBase and some restaurants along with smaller shops with proper frontages and parking for smaller thriving businesses like westside cycles.

Fact is, this isn't a town with a small population and neighbourhoods do change as a town becomes a small city. If we knew how to plan worth a damn we'd have planned and developed commercial zones in a satelite around the city centre just like we did business parks. Of course then you'd have to balance the interests of the city centre merchants when decentralizing the commercial zones. But I think city centre's have to natually offer something different to attact locals and tourists alike in to the city centre. Let's face it, if you could spend < 10mins to shop for food, clothes, pharmacy, and daily essentials you would in a nearby commercial zone located in a neighbourhood near you. But then on your days off you'd venture downtown for stuff like the market, pubs, and specialty stores.

Anyhow, it would be a nice to have a proper Tesco with full clothing / homestore. Ours shows it's age and I'm tired of seeing every piss-ant small town in the country having a better Tesco than ours.

moonflower

I'd love for a Tesco to open there. Dunnes in Westside is such a useless supermarket. It's poorly stocked, overpriced, dingy and the staff can be quite rude. The tiny Tesco in Newcastle seems to have almost as much variety of products and that's a fraction of the size.

Also that side of town is badly in need of a supermarket that stays open late, as Tesco tends to. On a Sunday everthing is shut by 8 and it used to be that the only option after then was to walk out to Joyces or over to Tesco in Terryland if you wanted to get something for dinner. That's changed a little with the opening of Tesco Express, but there's still nowhere to buy groceries after 10 on a Sunday, or after 11 any other day.

snubbleste

Ddi anyone see the media pieces on this about the residents associations in the area being against the development? One of them, Maunsells Road, was on about pedestrian lives being endangered by increased traffic..Residents there park on the footpath with scant regard for pedestrian movement for last few decades.
Hypocritical!

Fey!

snubbleste wrote: »

Ddi anyone see the media pieces on this about the residents associations in the area being against the development? One of them, Maunsells Road, was on about pedestrian lives being endangered by increased traffic..Residents there park on the footpath with scant regard for pedestrian movement for last few decades.
Hypocritical!

I'm one of the many residents in the area against the development. I don't park on the footpaths with scant regard for pedestrian movement.

Am I a hypocrit?

I'm against this primarily because the infrastructure in the area is not up to the extra traffic, either construction or customer, which this development will create. I'm 10 years asking council and councillors to do something about the junctions, but they keep letting the residents down and not doing anything.

stevecrow74

I agree with some and disagree with the rest of ye!!

I doubt there will be increased traffic, in fact maybe even a decrease..
if people on the west of the city want to go to tesco's its a hefty journey across the bridge, one closer will cut that journey out..
people on the east of the city wanting to go to tesco's can use the one on galway shopping centre.. it will also be good to have competition between the two dunnes stores (westside/knocknacarra) to keep the prices down on the west side of town.

plus extra jobs!

Sponge Bob

A Tesco in Westside would be a traffic disaster. Why not build one in that deep hole in Knocknacarra beside Dunnes and let them compete properly for a change

planetX

It's madness, hasn't Galway got enough supermarkets already?
We need amenities to make quality of life better - parks, swimming pools - anything but another Tesco....

GekkePrutser

moonflower wrote: »

I'd love for a Tesco to open there. Dunnes in Westside is such a useless supermarket. It's poorly stocked, overpriced, dingy and the staff can be quite rude. The tiny Tesco in Newcastle seems to have almost as much variety of products and that's a fraction of the size.

I agree. The west side of town has enough supermarkets but the choice isn't there. The 2 Dunnes stores are too close together and they're too expensive and don't have any special stuff that Tesco does so well: Fresh herbs, good (and much choice in) ready-made meals and asian cooking products are the ones I go to Tesco for mostly. But I don't get to go over there much because the traffic situation and it's too far to walk. I'd love to see the west side be a bit more self-sustained in these ways.

For me the ideal location would also be the 'big hole' between Dunnes and Aviva though. The location talked about here is already very busy.