It’s been revealed this evening that no valid appeals have been lodged against the North Quays Planning Scheme. It will pave the way for the 300 million euro Fawaz Al Hokair Group project to begin within the next year.

Councillors were informed of the news at a meeting of Waterford City and County Council.

Mayor @WaterfordCounci has just announced that An Bord Pleanala have advised that as if 4.55pm no valid* appeal to the North Quays SDZ had been received. *one invalid appeal had been received and no appeal will be accepted after 5pm #greatnews #Waterford — Mary Roche #repealthe8th (@maryroche) March 8, 2018

Once a developer submits a planning application and it complies with the guidelines of the plan, Waterford City and County Council must grant permission within 5 weeks and there is no leave to appeal.

Fine Gael Councillor John Cummins says the fact that this planning scheme has not been appealed to An Bord Pleanala is a “huge win for Waterford.”

**Breaking News**Waterford Council North Quays SDZ Planning Scheme has gotten the green light as no valid appeal was… Posted by John Cummins on Thursday, March 8, 2018

Explaining the significance of this milestone Cllr Cummins says “The planning scheme passed unanimously by council last month is now in force, this essentially means that once a developer submits a planning application(s) and it complies with the guidelines of the plan, Waterford City and County Council must grant permission within 5 weeks and there is no leave to appeal. We now have absolute certainty about what can be built on the site namely; 30,000 sq/m of retail (additional 10,000 sq/m in Michael St); 7,000sq/m food and beverage; 10-15,000sq/m office space; 10-15,000sq/m Hotel and conference; 10-15,000sq/m of Tourism/Cultural /Enterprise/Light Industry/ Community Facilities; 200-300 Apartments & 1600 car parking spaces.”

Councillor Cummins added “I am heartened by the fact that none of the 47 individuals and organisations that made submissions lodged an appeal and I would like to personally thank them for that. Every other SDZ has ended up with An Bord Plenala and the fact we avoided that and the potential pitfalls it may have brought is a hugely welcome boost. Our attention is now firmly on making these game changing developments happen in the shortest time frame possible. Although there are a number of further hurdles to jump like CPO’s, acquisition/disposal of land and signing of final contacts with the Fawaz Al Hokair Group, I am confident that we can overcome these; we are certainly not going to allow this once in a lifetime opportunity pass us by.”

The Deputy Mayor concluded by saying “it is full steam ahead now, we know the government supports the plans as evidenced by the Ireland 2040 plan and the National Development Plan and I’m sure Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will reiterate that in WIT on Friday. This is a new era for Waterford City and County. The North Quays SDZ & Michael Street projects will transform the face of Waterford and create over 1500 construction jobs and over 3000 permanent jobs on completion.”