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An application by Tesco for a 130,000sq ft store - the largest in Ireland - at The Outlet shopping centre on the outskirts of Banbridge has been opposed by local traders.
Members of Banbridge Traders’ Association held a meeting last night with officials from the Northern Ireland Independent Retail Trade Association (NIIRTA) to underline their objection to the proposed Tesco Extra Store.
The Co Down traders last night urged Environment Minister Arlene Foster to suspend any decision on the supermarket’s future until the completion of the awaited PPS 5 development plan - designed to regulate development in the area.
Co down butcher Joe Quail - whose family has run a business in Banbridge for over a century - said the plans would "decimate Banbridge town centre".
He said: "If you look just 10 miles away in Lurgan, it has been destroyed by out-of-town shopping."
If the Tesco proposal was successful, NIIRTA claimed, the development would threaten hundreds of small retailers and jobs in Banbridge, Dromore, Rathfriland and Gilford.
Glyn Roberts, NIIRTA Chief Executive, said when addressing the meeting: “If successful this Tesco application for the largest ever store on this island will result in the closure of hundreds of local small retailers, loss of jobs and turn Banbridge town centre into a ghost town.
"Effectively a new town centre will be created at The Outlet centre impacting on the local community, economy and environment.”
He added: "As this application is an Article 31, the Minister for the Environment has the final say and we are calling for Arlene Foster to support local traders, small businesses and the economy in the Banbridge area and to reject this application.
“This situation demonstrates clearly why we need to see the Draft PPS 5 published as soon as possible to create a level playing field for independent retailers, to protect our town centres and to ensure that consumers can have the choice and variety that local shops can offer.
NIIRTA stressed it was not anti-Tesco but was “completely opposed to their continual applications to locate out of town and the damage that it causes”.
(VB/KMcA)
