Owners of Market Place in Clonmel accused of having 'sat on the site for years'

The owners of the Market Place retail area in Clonmel had “sat on the site for years” and the pressure had to be put on them to develop the area, Clonmel’s former first citizen has stated.

In his last meeting of Clonmel Borough District before vacating the office of Mayor, Cllr Pat English said the painting of the hoarding on vacant shop units at Market Place, as suggested by Cllr Richie Molloy, would be only a stop-gap measure, and they really needed to push the owners to do something there.

Cllr Siobhán Ambrose said that Remcoll, the company that owned the retail area, were “phenomenally wealthy” and had “loads of money”. The company had changed their planners and architects but nothing was happening there.

The more the council did the more the impression was created that the council was responsible for that area but that wasn’t the case, said Cllr Ambrose.

District Administrator Carol Creighton agreed that the hoardings should be painted. It was a good idea and could be done as a temporary measure until something happened there.

She also stated that the owners were negotiating with the planning section of Tipperary County Council.

Cllr Richie Molloy said that if something wasn’t done, posters and graffiti would be put on the hoarding.

He suggested that a local group such as STAG (South Tipperary Art Group) could paint the hoarding in the same way they had painted the hoarding on the Kickham Barracks site, before the development of the plaza.

Most of the shop units at Market Place are unoccupied, following several shop closures and relocations over the years.

These include anchor tenant SuperValu, which closed in January 2016 with the loss of 46 jobs.

Eighteen buildings in the area were sold at a distressed property auction ten years ago for €920,000.