Developer must pay contribution over new €10m Donegal Town retail centre

A developer that has been granted planning permission for a €10m retail development in Donegal Town has failed in a bid to overturn a requirement to pay a special contribution to Donegal County Council for pedestrian and road infrastructure linked to the site.
Railway Road Trading Ltd was granted planning permission in July last year for the demolition of buildings on a 2.5-hectare site at Milltown, Donegal Town and the construction of a major retail development.

The site, less than 500 metres from the town’s Diamond, is occupied by the former picture framing and moulding company owned by the Timoney family.

In 2018 when it announced the plans, Railway Road Trading said the €10m centre would create 250 jobs when completed, while a further 150 would be created during the 15-month construction phase.
The 6,184 square-metre centre - including a supermarket, off-licence, eight retail units and a café/restaurant unit - was granted planning permission with 27 conditions.
One of the conditions included the payment of a special development contribution of €75,000 to the council for pedestrian and road infrastructure costing €789,000 that it said was required to facilitate the development.
An Bord Pleanála rejected the appeal but reduced the contribution to €18,145.
The council had ordered that the contribution be paid prior to the commencement of work or in phased payments. Planners said it was reasonable that the developer should contribute towards the "specific exceptional costs" which are not covered by the development contribution scheme and which will benefit the development.

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The developer appealed the requirement to pay the special contribution to An Bord Pleanála, arguing that it did not meet the requirements of the Planning and Development Act as the information provided by the council to justify the contribution was not sufficient.
The council maintained that a contribution of 9.5% of the cost was "reasonable and appropriate".
An Bord Pleanála ruled that a financial contribution was "warranted and justified" as the works required would improve the connectivity between the site and the town centre site and would improve the public realm on the streets linking the two sites.
However, the board reduced the amount of work the developer would be required to pay a contribution to.

The board found the applicant was being requested to contribute towards works to be carried out on the Lough Eske Road, which it said would not improve the connectivity of the site with the town centre area.