Phoenix: It has not worked

In the 40 year life of this column, support has always been given to our council’s policy on the retail primacy of the city centre. In other words, all comparison retail, with very limited exceptions, should be in the city centre. 

That policy was agreed for years with the old Waterford and Kilkenny County Councils. No comparison retail would be built on the fringes of Waterford city in order to protect the vitality and retail product of the city centre. 

That policy collapsed 20 years ago when Kilkenny allowed Ferrybank Shopping Centre, and the Dungarvan-based Waterford County Council allowed the Butlerstown Retail Park. 

After decades of pursuing this policy, one visible and unpalatable truth has emerged. That policy has not worked however much we insist upon it. There are a million interlinked reasons why, including the savage suppression of WIT by Government since 2011, but it has not worked. We must confront reality.

Our city centre struggles despite a fortune spent on paving and pedestrianisation. Urban attractiveness (the city looks well) is apparently not the answer. Research by UK NGO, Centre for Cities, suggests that disposable income is the prime generator of vibrant centres. 

For Waterford, the past 40 years are instructive. City Square was developed in 1993 with limited success. The completely enclosed nature of the centre, especially at night, rather than restoring the historic street pattern complete with shopping and residential, ruined our historic city centre. I would rebuild or alter City Square on that basis. 

The centre’s Roches Stores was sold to Debenhams and things looked rosy. The demise of the Celtic Tiger and the advent of internet shopping changed retail dramatically. Debenhams national closure marked a seminal retail change. 

Newly developed retail space in Arundel Square, which should easily have attracted retailers like H&M or ZARA, is still vacant. Why? Meanwhile, the narrative “nothing in the city centre” is constantly regurgitated. That is obviously untrue, but there is enough truth in it to demand answers. 

Footfall in the city centre is low. Investment by the private sector has been, with obvious visible exceptions, almost nonexistent. The terrible blight caused by the Michael Street shopping debacle has metastasized across New Street and surrounds. Failure to keep traffic out of the Applemarket is shameful. 

For whatever reason, Waterford city shoppers and its traditional hinterland are not finding what they want in our city centre and are going elsewhere to find it. The M9 motorway has facilitated easy access as perceived ambience, footfall and choice of major retailers has driven people, and their money, to Dublin. A lively tourism product has attracted people to Kilkenny, Wexford and indeed Dungarvan. In a changed world, vibrant events like Waterford’s weekly churchyard sessions are incredibly and increasingly important.

By size alone, Waterford should dominate South East retail. We have Penney’s, Shaw’s and Tesco, Aldi, Lidl galore, but only one Dunnes. 

Clonmel has two, Galway has three, Waterford has twice the retail floor space of anywhere in the region, albeit spread in big box and convenience units in various fringe centres. 

Ardkeen is absolutely vibrant with a retail offering better than many good-sized towns. Butlerstown Retail Park is a huge success. Its Costa Coffee shop is among the busiest in the country and will soon be joined by a McDonald’s Restaurant. The attraction of large shop units and free parking cannot be underestimated either in Butlerstown or Ardkeen. People seem to want these, with free parking. 

Meanwhile, one hour in City Square, where the lower floor is often empty, costs €2.70. Three hours in Dundrum Shopping Centre costs €3.70. A Saturday morning jaunt via the M9 to Dundrum suddenly becomes attractive.

Our council resisted an out of town shopping centre for decades but the same is not done elsewhere. Cork’s Mahon Point has 60 shops and 2,000 free parking spaces. Limerick city has allowed massive retail development on the fringes of the city and the huge Crescent Shopping Centre has 1,500 free parking spaces. This has impacted Limerick City centre in terms of footfall and retail vacancy, but the question is simple. Is the Crescent Centre what people want? Judging by its throughput, the answer is an unambiguous yes. 

Waterford city had an opportunity to develop large suburban centres like Crescent or Mahon, in Lisduggan and on the Outer Ring Road where the Knightswood Housing development now is. Our city council opposed both, even though in the latter case Marks and Spencer were on the hook. Council insisted that the development should be in Michael Street. You cannot bully national retailers, so that site is derelict and empty to this day. 

Marks and Spencer went to Clonmel! Should we have allowed a large shopping centre and its attendant massive pull at Williamstown, rather than insisting on everything in the city centre, even when the developers involved would not go there? Most Waterford people are familiar with Clonmel. Propose a shopping centre on Slievenamon (Dove Hill?) and Tipperary County Council would probably allow it. They focus on the overall retail volume in the county, even though Clonmel now has very high retail vacancy rates. 

A similar rationale seems to apply in Wexford. Limerick is the undoubted shopping capital of the mid-west despite city centre vacancy. Waterford city has lost its city centre sheen, but has maintained its overall retail space and volume.

Given that Ferrybank Shopping Centre will open soon, we now have a large new centre in Waterford’s economic sphere, even if the rates go to Kilkenny County Council. Do we now persist with our failed policy? Our council’s preparedness to allow a huge shopping centre on the North Wharf suggests otherwise. Although nominally, via a pedestrian bridge, in the city centre, it was desperation planning and a tacit acceptance of city centre reality. 

Our historic city centre is largely owned by utterly risk averse renters and speculators. Our council has burst a gut trying to change the dynamic, even being the property purchaser of last resort, but their pace of completion is glacial. If the definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome”, the Ferrybank decision will certainly concentrate the minds of council and business.

Bring on the free for all?