A vote of confidence

Editorial Department • Published 25 Mar 2010 09:12 0 Comments

It's certainly a vote of confidence in the town of Enniskillen to see local developers looking to build a high-end retail park in the county town.

As our front page story shows, husband and wife team Paul and Ciara McGriskin have been given the green light by planners for their Station Green development. It is to offer modern, high specification units to the retail and business community and looks set to make a huge change to the retail landscape of Enniskillen, which has already been transformed over the last decade.

The couple is endeavouring to bring a high-end retail experience -- something like Sprucefield -- right here to Fermanagh.

The site is currently under-utilised. It serves as a reminder of Fermanagh's once much richer manufacturing landscape when the Aldervale textile factory once employed hundreds of workers there. It, like names such as Sir Richard Arkwright and Desmonds, are now part of Enniskillen's history.

The car park is also not fully utilised and the developers seek to develop a mostly forgotten part of Enniskillen that is very close to other retailers in the town.

It is hoped the scheme will enhance the town's tourism and economic potential.

The announcement was made this week just as Asda opened its extension to its Enniskillen store. Asda is known to have capitalised on cross-Border trade. It is Enniskillen's position close to the Border, attracting shoppers from a hinterland with some half a million potential customers within a distance of an hour that the Station Green too seeks to exploit.

Any development that brings jobs and prosperity into the town must be welcomed. And that developers are seeking move forward with a development in these uncertain times is noteworthy.

Another Fermanagh-based firm has been also shown to be enterprising with Steel Solutions purchased engineering firm Redrock in Armagh. It's a move that is to be commended.

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This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 25 Mar 10

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