Editorial: Expensive end to long-running Ferrybank Shopping Centre saga 

It has been a testing week for Waterford City and County Council, who are now nursing the wounds of having to shoulder what will, undoubtedly, be a massive monetary cost as a result of taking a judicial review against Kilkenny County Council over Ferrybank Shopping Centre.

The critics will be quick to jump on the bandwagon and lambast Council over such a course of action, but it points to the complexity of considered planning for a city and its suburbs.

The Ferrybank situation is further complicated by its position, sitting squarely across two county divides. On one side you have Waterford city, for which Ferrybank is very much a suburb and part of the Déise fold.

However, on the other side you have a Kilkenny outpost, on the periphery of that electoral constituency, but ripe for harvesting much-valued revenue from a considerable population base.

The saga of Ferrybank Shopping Centre has been a long and meandering one, that pulls together all the strands of modern economic history in Ireland. Built at the latter end of the Celtic Tiger's roaring boom years, it never got out of the starting blocks. Dunnes Stores was part of the initial equation, but reneged, and thus followed a prolonged legal process.

Kilkenny County Council, perhaps keen to ensure the proper maintenance of such a vast building, remained resident throughout, with a library and also as the venue for Piltown Electoral District's monthly meetings.

It was somewhat bemusing that Kilkenny's Piltown councillors would raise, at each meeting, queries in relation to the status of the building in which they were sitting and communications with Dunnes Stores. All the while they were at a loss as to Dunnes' intentions and what the future held for the, otherwise, 'ghost' building.

When Dunnes finally submitted a planning application, which was granted, it seemed that this story might reach a conclusion. Waterford City and County Council, however, threw in a curveball in the form of a judicial review process.

Their reasoning is understandable, though in hindsight, they are left licking their wounds from the very expensive fallout. 

Sean McKeown, CEO of Waterford Council, and ironically former Interim CEO of Kilkenny County Council, is to be commended for his forthrightness in shouldering the responsibility in a very public manner this week. 

Looking forward, the mammoth building, which has become a landmark on the horizon for those arriving in Waterford via Ferrybank - and which appears to have been well-maintained throughout the duration of this process - will now take on a new life, similar to that which was originally intended. Over the next number of years much will become apparent for Waterford city, with the completion of the North Quays. 

The vagaries of retail are challenging, particularly with the prevalence of online shopping. The fight over Ferrybank Shopping Centre may, ultimately, have been one for an era that has now passed. The major stores continue to stay away despite suitable premises on Arundel Square in the heart of the city - this is more to do with shoppers' habits than anything else. They set up shop where footfall merits it.

Looking ahead, perhaps the biggest learning would be a stronger regional approach, that would see both local authorities work together more efficiently for the greater good of the population straddling the Suir.