Marina Market expected to make An Bord Pleanála appeal in a bid to secure its future
Market Popularity Began In Since Pandemic, Cummins Picture: Has Larry The And Grown The During Covid
The operators of Cork’s popular Marina Market are expected to appeal to An Bord Pleanála a contentious planning decision to refuse retention and extension of the popular docklands food emporium.
The company behind the market, CPR Properties, has declined to comment. The planning consultants working on CPR’s behalf have also declined to comment.
But it is understood that they are assessing their options with a view to taking an appeal to the planning appeals board. The process could take up to a year.
Sources at the market say that while that process is ongoing, there will be no change to the operation of Marina Market.
Cork City Council has also declined to comment on its decision to refuse retention for the market, which opened in a warehouse during the Covid pandemic.
Several city councillors have requested briefings from council chief executive Ann Doherty arising out of the planning decision, calling for the council to do everything it can to secure the future of the market.
It is understood that they are being directed to the planning file, and specifically, to the submission from the Health and Safety Authority (HSA), which pointed out that the market is close to the Goulding Fertiliser compound on Centre Park Road — a notified COMAH (Control of Major Accident) site which comes under strict regulations.
“It is therefore considered that the proposed development due to its location could, due to the risk of a major accident or if a major accident were to occur, lead to serious danger to human health or the environment,” it said.
Sources familiar with the planning file said once the HSA made that view known, council planners could not grant planning.
However, others said if the council really wanted to secure the market, it could have found a way to work with the applicants on finding a resolution.