Phoenix: Who benefits?

The boundary between Waterford and Kilkenny raises its head again. An independent commission recommended an extension to its historic limit. Politics failed to do what was right and Minister Mary Butler will forever be tainted by her refusal to back the commission recommendation. 

Had the recommendation been followed, Waterford would have had a fifth Dáil seat in the last election and much of the relative disadvantage we suffer vis-a-vis Carlow /Kilkenny and Wexford constituencies would have gone. 

Ferrybank was the Northern Liberties of the city for hundreds of years. It was detached from Waterford in 1899. The recommendation of the boundary commission to return the Northern Liberties should be put in place. If they were, much difficulty in inter-county relations would eventually be averted.

There were three original planning applications for Ferrybank Shopping Centre to Kilkenny County Council. The third application was appealed, but was withdrawn. Hence the centre was built without independent adjudication. 

The rates from the centre go to Kilkenny. The first two applications were refused by An Bord Pleanála, who decided that the centre was town centre-sized and not an appropriate district centre. They concluded that Ferrybank is a suburb of Waterford city and not a separate town. 

The Central Statistics Office also counts the population of that part of County Kilkenny immediately adjacent to Ferrybank as part of the population of Waterford city. 

Had the centre been within Waterford city when proposed, its size would have been commensurate with the needs of the area. When the boundary is eventually adjusted, Kilkenny County Council will have to be reimbursed for loss of rates on the centre. That council already reaps vast revenues from the Port of Waterford but there is little, if any, evidence of that money being spent in the south Kilkenny environs of Waterford city. There is hardly a flower to be seen, grass and weed-cutting are dismal, and, in general, neglect is the byword. 

The income disappears northwards to the Kilkenny county town.

Waterford council (a prescribed body) made a substantial submission on the latest (fourth) planning application by Dunnes Stores as it was referred to them by Kilkenny for comment. That submission was effectively ignored. 

The Kilkenny planning file, per their website, contains no evidence that the Waterford Council submission was ever acknowledged. Anyone familiar with planning knows, when a submission on an application to any council is made, it is acknowledged in a formal letter, which stresses the importance of the document. 

When Kilkenny decided that the Dunnes application would be granted, Waterford appealed to An Bord Pleanála (now An Coimisiún Pleanála), who dismissed the appeal as invalid because no acknowledgement of the Waterford submission to Kilkenny was attached. 

How could it be when Kilkenny never acknowledged the submission in the first place? 

Feelings in Waterford council are running high on this as it (quite wrongly) suggests the council were incompetent. The saga is not over. The next phase will surely involve our learned friends in the Law Library!

Retail in Waterford city centre has been problematic for years. By the mid-1980s a whole section of Arundel Square, Peter Street and High Street was totally derelict. New tax incentives created City Square, which opened in 1993. 

This stabilised matters, but the council decision to allow the centre to close off Peter Street at night has had serious, albeit unintended, consequences. 

It was obvious by the early 2000s that more retail was necessary in the city, but the Michael Street centre, which was to provide large units necessary for national stores, was never developed. Applications for a large Marks and Spencer at the Outer Ring Road and for a Kildare Village-type outlet on the Cork Road were not permitted as the council sought to protect the city centre. 

Unfortunately, despite a huge effort to upgrade paving, street surfaces and pedestrianize many streets, retail decline has continued and has been exacerbated by internet shopping, Covid and the financial crash. 

It would have to be said that the retailers of Waterford city, with perhaps one or two exceptions, dismally failed to invest and develop new retail product after the arrival of City Square.

Traffic along the quays is terrible as the city bypass and Thomas Francis Meagher Bridge is tolled. This has undermined the function of the bridge and perpetuated urban traffic problems. Access to the city centre can be difficult. The opening of the M9 has shifted top end shoppers from Waterford to Dublin and shifted many south Kilkenny shoppers to Kilkenny. The myth of high parking charges in Waterford is embedded largely by the outrageous charges in City Square. 

The separation of ownership of the car park from the shopping has been disastrous in preventing sensible reactions to reduced footfall. The car park owners seem doggedly determined to increase charges to compensate for reduced income, even while the lower car park floor is regularly railed off and unused. 

When City Square did develop large units facing Arundel Square, they failed to let them. 

The UK NGO, Centre for Cities, research suggests that struggling city centres are the result of a lack of disposable income. The 2025 SEEM report from SETU is emphatic that this area has low disposable income, albeit having almost full employment and a growing economy. Waterford is incredibly well served for food, white goods, furniture and car sales with many supermarkets like Ardkeen, Tesco, Dunnes, Supervalu, Lidl and Aldi very well represented. The Butlerstown Retail Park draws shoppers from across the south east and is a huge success. Is something else affecting the city centre?

For whatever reason, the historic policy of prohibiting comparison retailing outside the city centre has failed. It may well be that the historic city centre is over pedestrianized for its size. I would certainly reopen Arundel Square. 

But there is also a palpable lack of dynamism among local retailers/property owners. Weeds growing from prominent shops in Broad Street indicate smugness with the status quo. 

Ultimately, the maxim is “Retail follows, it does not lead”. The Ferrybank Centre will have a huge impact across the south east if it opens. It will bring people to Ferrybank, a Ferrybank, which we rightly claim as Waterford. Maybe it’s time we embraced that?