Proposed Aldi for Swords

Clare_Culchie

Aldi have apparently put in a bid for the Priests' Field opposite that was the Swords Resource Centre on Seatown Road in Swords, with 92 car-parking spaces. Nice!!! You won't hear any complaints from me, that's for sure.

Dizzyblonde

That's great news! We'll finally have Aldi in Swords, and that seems to be a good site for it too.

sassychick

Has it been approved ??92 car spaces wouldnt be enough...and with lidl proposed as well the traffic in swords is goin to be diabolical:rolleyes:Dont get me wrong it would be great if we had lidl and aldi just where they wany to put them is madness in terms of traffic!!!

Clare_Culchie

It's narrow enough a road but they have plenty of room to widen the road in front of the Parochial House. It's a listed building but I'm sure it will mysteriously catch fire again and will have to be pulled down. The priests' field, or Howards Field as it was known, is a surprisingly large site. There had been speculation in the past that the Garda Station & Courthouse were going in there, and I think Anne Devitt once proposed a swimming-pool. At the height of the boom there was a bit of a land-grab by developers, buying up houses along Seatown Road and around onto St. Colmcille's Drive. The speculation was based on some FCC draft development plan that the Village should develop eastwards toward the existing by-pass/future Metro line. If that was to happen the lands between Seatown Road and Chapel Lane would be zoned as high-density residential (apartments). However after the boom and bust those houses that had been bought up are now shabby and run-down rented houses.

I would have guessed that you could fit more than 92 parking spaces in there but that's all that's being sought.

Woodies at Seatown Road would have been a much better site but the existing building would be too large and superfluous to their requirements, and I'm sure it would have been more than Aldi are willing to pay.

I'm glad though that between Lidl on Rathbeale Rd. and Aldi on Seatown Rd. there would be a counterbalance against the creep of business and customers towards The Pavilions. Main Street really has to clean up it's act.

What ever happened to the proposal to develop a multiple-storey carpark and ground-floor retail along the east side of Fosters Way/New Street to Chapel Lane? Weren't we meant to be getting a theatre? As far as I remember the Senior Citizens Centre agreed to relocation. What happened there?

PCros

Aldi were denied permission in 2004 up in Airside....don't know if this location is any better.

Clare_Culchie

PCros wrote: »

Aldi were denied permission in 2004 up in Airside....don't know if this location is any better.

Can you remember on what grounds? If it was for fear that out-of-town retail would negatively impact on business in town centres then this would be a far more appropriate proposal. Another great site would be the current Squibbs/Swords Laboratories site. What on earth is a chemical factory still doing in the middle of a town centre?

Elessar

Can anyone link me to the area on google maps where Aldi has applied for? I had heard they were moving into the Woodies building. Lidl is planned for the Esso garage on Rathbeal road correct?

Clare_Culchie

Elessar wrote: »

Can anyone link me to the area on google maps where Aldi has applied for? I had heard they were moving into the Woodies building. Lidl is planned for the Esso garage on Rathbeal road correct?

Yes, Lidl are taking that site on Rathbeale Road subject to planning permission being granted.

Likewise with Aldi, their proposal is for the site on Seatown Road between St. Colmcille's Drive and Seatown Terrace, opposite the Fingal Community College basketball courts.

Clare_Culchie

Elessar wrote: »

Can anyone link me to the area on google maps where Aldi has applied for? I had heard they were moving into the Woodies building. Lidl is planned for the Esso garage on Rathbeal road correct?

Actually, I've just heard from a reliable source that Lidl were refused planning permission for the Esso site on Rathbeale Road due to traffic-management concerns.

Larianne

They can't be serious about putting Aldi in that location? The road is way too narrow! Plus its right near Fingal Community College. Traffic there would be a complete nightmare in the mornings and evenings.

Clare_Culchie wrote: »

Actually, I've just heard from a reliable source that Lidl were refused planning permission for the Esso site on Rathbeale Road due to traffic-management concerns.

Not refused, they have to come back with an updated, better thought out plan as far as I know.

Clare_Culchie

I suppose before the M1 was built it was a primary access route for motorists from West Swords to the main Dublin-Belfast road. Now with the N1 bypassed by the M1 it's role is redundant making it more suitable for use by the likes of Aldi. They may have to build a roundabout or buy the houses adjacent to it to widen the road down to St. Colmcille's Drive. There is a a sliver of land parallel to the road from Seatown Terrace to the Parochial House that is commonage. There used to be a couple living in a tent on it trying to get squatters rights to it but I don't think that lasted. The FCC had better make Seatown Villas & Terrace and St. Colmcille's Drive & Park pay&display as a deterrent to crazy parking.

T-Maxx

Having Aldi or any other major retailler on this side of Seatown Rd is just shear madness. Traffic is chaotic as is.

The old Woodies would be far better a location IMO.

Clare_Culchie

If they buy the five pairs of semi-D's from Seatown Road and around onto the Drive they'll have plenty of room to counteract any traffic problems along that road. As it is it is too narrow, but it very easily could be widened along it's entire length from the bypass to North Street by way of CPOs here and there, and the use of common land.

As a link road between Main St and the proposed Metro it will have to be improved upon greatly anyway.

T-Maxx

Clare_Culchie wrote: »

If they buy the five pairs of semi-D's from Seatown Road and around onto the Drive they'll have plenty of room to counteract any traffic problems along that road. As it is it is too narrow, but it very easily could be widened along it's entire length from the bypass to North Street by way of CPOs here and there, and the use of common land.

As a link road between Main St and the proposed Metro it will have to be improved upon greatly anyway.

No offense, but this seems like typical FCC planning - sure, it'll improve Seatown Rd, but what about all the other roads linking up to it? Main St, Rathbeal Rd, North St, etc etc... a mess as it is.

BollickyBill

T-Maxx wrote: »

Having Aldi or any other major retailler on this side of Seatown Rd is just shear madness. Traffic is chaotic as is.

The old Woodies would be far better a location IMO.

I have to agree with you . The road is very narrow and there are two schools there as well. There is the Fingal community college right on the side of the road plus the St. Colmcille's boys and girls school is just at the end of Seatown terrace where a large number of children from junior infants up to 6th class cross the Seatown road twice a day. I think it would be a no go just on safety grounds alone.
The Woodies site would make a lot more sense. Personally I would love to see Aldi coming to Swords mainly because of the employment it would provide.

BollickyBill

Clare_Culchie wrote: »

If they buy the five pairs of semi-D's from Seatown Road and around onto the Drive they'll have plenty of room to counteract any traffic problems along that road. As it is it is too narrow, but it very easily could be widened along it's entire length from the bypass to North Street by way of CPOs here and there, and the use of common land.

As a link road between Main St and the proposed Metro it will have to be improved upon greatly anyway.

Dear Clare culchie, before you mention CPO's for five pairs of semi d's, please consider the families that have lived there for years. They have to be considered as more than a stroke of a pen on a planner's chart. In a reply to T-MAXX I mentioned that there are two schools on the Seatown road, a Community college and the St. Colmcille's national school which caters for boys and girls. From these schools children as young as 5 cross the Seatown road twice a day. A more suitable site will have to be found for Aldi and there are several. I would very much like to see Aldi come to Swords, but not there.
Regards,
BB.

sassychick

I was at mass on sunday night and the priest commented on this,apparently they have agreed to aldi building there as they were offered a substansial amount of money from aldi ireland...the money is badly needed as they have a 1.2 million overdraft and aldis money would cover this and there would be enough money left to build a pastoral office...im with bollikybill on this one im all for an aldi in swords but this road is too dangerous..traffic in swords is crap this would create chaos..

dubsuperstar

Putting Aldi here is mad. My in-laws live in Seatown Villlas and its bad enough with traffic on this road coming from N1 into Swords village and as mentioned before there is a secondary school on this road and a primary school around the corner.

PWEI

Just wondering was this just a rumour? The only planning application I could find for Aldi in Swords was for a store in Airside back in 2004.

The Hill Billy

If it was a rumour - it is an old one at this stage.

Clare_Culchie

http://www.fingal-independent.ie/news/aldi-land-sale-scrapped-by-swords-parish-2610531.html
Pity. It's a fine site, but derelict now and overgrown with willow. One resident on St. Colmcille's Park has been encroaching on the land to extend their rear garden and building a garden-shed on the land, despite it being owned by someone else (the parish). The Church hasn't objected, but someone such as Aldi, when the deeds are handed over, would have been very quick to eject such parasitic land-grabbers.
I'd sooner see Aldi go in there than it be left derelict. There was a suggestion that the OPW might buy it and relocate the Garda Station and the Courthouse, but that never went anywhere. There was also talk of the council building a swimming-pool. No sign of that either.

The Scientician

Swimming pool. I moved to Swords in 1988 and there's been talk of a public pool since at least then.

MugMugs

The Scientician wrote: »

Swimming pool. I moved to Swords in 1988 and there's been talk of a public pool since at least then.

Was talk of a cinema and night club too.....

They seem to come eventually !

Actually, little unknown fact for you. Where the old Superquinn now Penneys was, lay a cinema years beforehand. One could say Swords went back in time when it shut !

celticbest

Thought I'd give this thread a bump to see it there is any movement on an Aldi locating in Swords...

Dizzyblonde

celticbest wrote: »

Thought I'd give this thread a bump to see it there is any movement on an Aldi locating in Swords...

I've heard strong rumours that they're trying to get into Rivervalley shopping centre.

Faolchu

heard that too.

celticbest

Any more rumours on Aldi coming to swords?

Tropheus

celticbest wrote: »

Any more rumours on Aldi coming to swords?

I heard that they're looking at the old Woodies in Swords (Estuary not Airside). But that's just a rumour.

seanmacc

ksimpson wrote: »

I heard that they're looking at the old Woodies in Swords (Estuary not Airside). But that's just a rumour.

They were looking at Kinsealy shopping center before Eurospar moved in to buy it up. Apparently the car park was an insufficient size for them and potential expansion of the existing shopping center could of been scuppered by objections to the planning permission.
The car park would of been a huge issue in Kinsealy shopping center, more that half of the car park is owned by the pub. In a row between the Kinsealy Inn proprietor and the Eurospar owners the Kinsealy Inn erected a fence around its car park boundry a few years ago crippling the Eurospars trade and had the appearence of an extremely juvenille dispute.
On the planning issue they may have actually got the planning permission seeing that the Kinsealy Inn was granted planning permission to build a 2 story pub back in 06 but didn't act on it due to the downturn in the pub trade.

T-Maxx

Looks like this is alive once again.

FCC planning register

Dizzyblonde

Hope they get started on it soon.

pinkypinky

Traffic is already a problem in that area because of the school - can't see the residents being too happy about a supermarket as well.

Dizzyblonde

I thought that was the application for the one in Rivervalley - there's no sign of anything happening yet

Shred

Yeah that application says "Lands at and adjoining The Parochial House (Protected Structure Ref. 358), Seatown Road, Swords, Co. Dublin.". Personally I'd prefer if it didn't go into Rivervalley Shopping Centre as the traffic would be brutal in the surrounding area. There's better access to the proposed site off Seatown roundabout I would think.

T-Maxx

Shred wrote: »

Yeah that application says "Lands at and adjoining The Parochial House (Protected Structure Ref. 358), Seatown Road, Swords, Co. Dublin.". Personally I'd prefer if it didn't go into Rivervalley Shopping Centre as the traffic would be brutal in the surrounding area. There's better access to the proposed site off Seatown roundabout I would think.

Quite the opposite.

Shred

T-Maxx wrote: »

Quite the opposite.

So just off a dual carriage way as opposed to coming through an already busy swords village or boroimhe through multiple sets of lights potentially adding to traffic queues and then through a housing estate is quite the ooposite? Granted it would have been better if it was located in the estate where Woodies is rather than the other residential side though.

Dizzyblonde

The roads in and around Rivervalley are well able to cope with the traffic, and there's a grand big car park too.

celticbest

Shred wrote: »

So just off a dual carriage way as opposed to coming through an already busy swords village or boroimhe through multiple sets of lights potentially adding to traffic queues and then through a housing estate is quite the ooposite? Granted it would have been better if it was located in the estate where Woodies is rather than the other residential side though.

None of the roads to the proposed Aldi in Rivervalley go through any estates?

From the R132 onto the L2300 to the Rathingle Road through to Rivervalley Road, all of which are distributor roads & have no houses face directly onto them.

Shred

celticbest wrote: »

None of the roads to the proposed Aldi in Rivervalley go through any estates?

From the R132 onto the L2300 to the Rathingle Road through to Rivervalley Road, all of which are distributor roads & have no houses face directly onto them.

That's one possible route, the other is the first right from the village. Access to the village is already a pain in the hoop on weekends without this if you ask me and this could make it difficult to get out of Rivervalley itself. Either way, I'm not in favour of it but I know others are.

Tropheus

Have they considered the empty unit in Airside nearest to the Swords Road? It's been unused for some time and Aldi or Lidl are probably the only shops that would bring life back to that end of Airside.