Another major investment proposal in Enniskillen. Another round of objections. And once again, we’re hearing warnings about the potential impact on the town centre.
Let us start by making something clear.
Businesses, residents and organisations have every right to object to a planning application. There are planning policies for a reason, and concerns about the future of Enniskillen town centre deserve to be heard.
But watching the latest debate surrounding Marks & Spencer and Lakelands Retail Park unfold, it’s difficult not to feel that Enniskillen keeps finding itself trapped in the same conversation.
Whenever significant retail development is proposed outside the traditional town centre, we seem to hear the same warning:
What will this do to the town centre?
It’s a fair question.
But perhaps it’s time we asked another one.
What is the town centre doing to make people want to go there?
Another development, another argument
M&S wants to close its existing Erneside store and open a significantly larger Foodhall at Lakelands Retail Park.
The proposal remains subject to planning permission.
Erneside’s owners have objected. Tesco has also lodged an objection, with concerns including the potential impact on the vitality and viability of Enniskillen town centre and whether alternative sites have been adequately considered.
More recently, another Enniskillen business group has reportedly raised concerns about the proposed move.
These organisations are perfectly entitled to make their case.
But the arguments will sound familiar to anyone who has followed development in Enniskillen over the years.
The Lakelands development itself faced significant opposition.
Planning officials originally recommended refusal, citing concerns about the impact on town-centre trade, before councillors narrowly approved the development in 2021.
Years later, we’re still having variations of the same debate.
What do local people actually want?
This is where things become interesting.
Enniskillen Mix has covered the M&S proposals extensively, and the response from our readers has often been very different from the concerns appearing through the planning process.
Many of the comments we’ve received have been supportive of M&S investing at Lakelands.
That doesn’t mean everyone in Enniskillen supports the proposal, nor would we pretend that a Facebook comments section is a scientific survey of public opinion.
But it would be equally wrong to ignore what people are saying.
When we recently asked readers what they would like to see at Erneside if M&S leaves, we received suggestions including Primark, TK Maxx, H&M, restaurants, bowling and more activities for families and young people.
Parking came up too.
People weren’t simply asking for more shops.
They were effectively saying: give us more reasons to come into Enniskillen and spend our time here.
That seems like something worth listening to.
Protecting the town centre isn’t enough
There is obviously a legitimate argument for protecting Enniskillen town centre.
Nobody wants to see empty units, declining footfall or a high street slowly disappearing.
But protecting a town centre and improving a town centre aren’t necessarily the same thing.
If every large development outside the traditional retail core is considered potentially detrimental to the town centre, where exactly are larger businesses supposed to go?
Many modern retailers require large units, significant parking, easy deliveries and other infrastructure that simply cannot easily be provided within traditional high-street buildings.
If Enniskillen wants to attract those businesses, there has to be somewhere for them to operate.
And preventing development elsewhere doesn’t automatically make the high street more attractive.
The bigger challenge is surely making the town centre somewhere people actively choose to visit.
What is drawing people into the town centre?
That’s the uncomfortable question in all of this.
Instead of continually asking what an out-of-town development might take away from the high street, perhaps we should spend more time asking what the high street is offering people in the first place.
What draws someone into Enniskillen for an afternoon?
What makes a family decide to spend several hours there?
What attracts younger people?
What brings shoppers across the border?
What makes someone stay for dinner after shopping rather than simply getting back into their car and going home?
Retail matters.
But so do restaurants, cafés, entertainment, events, public spaces, accessibility and the overall experience of visiting the town.
Interestingly, these aren’t new questions.
Enniskillen’s own Town Centre Masterplan identified issues including relatively low levels of commercial leisure provision, traffic and accessibility, while highlighting potential for restaurants, cafés, bars and indoor entertainment such as ten-pin bowling and children’s play facilities.
And yet here we are, still talking about some of the same things.
Remember the cinema and bowling alley?
There’s a certain irony surrounding Lakelands itself.
The original development included plans for a six-screen cinema, bowling alley, indoor play centre, hotel and other facilities alongside retail.
The cinema and bowling proposal was understood to have played a significant role when councillors narrowly approved the development against the recommendation of planning officials in 2021.
Those leisure plans were subsequently dropped, with Lidl proposed for part of the site instead.
Look through local reaction now and you’ll still find people talking about the bowling alley.
That should tell us something.
There appears to be an appetite not simply for somewhere else to buy groceries, but for more things to actually do in Enniskillen.
Development shouldn’t have to be either/or
Perhaps this entire conversation needs to move beyond the idea that Enniskillen must choose between its town centre and development elsewhere.
Why can’t we want both?
Why can’t Lakelands succeed while Erneside attracts new retailers?
Why can’t the traditional high street become stronger through independent shops, hospitality, services, events and experiences that aren’t easily replicated in a retail park?
A thriving town centre and successful development elsewhere in Enniskillen shouldn’t have to be mutually exclusive.
Competition isn’t automatically the enemy of a town.
Sometimes competition forces places to improve.
Enniskillen can’t stand still
None of this means every planning application should automatically be approved.
Far from it.
Developments should be properly scrutinised. Traffic, infrastructure, employment, environmental impact and the consequences for the wider town all matter.
And those opposing the M&S application are entitled to put forward their arguments through exactly the same planning process as those supporting it.
But there is a wider question beyond one supermarket application.
What kind of Enniskillen do we actually want ten or twenty years from now?
If major retailers want to invest here, we should be asking how that investment can work alongside the town centre — not automatically assuming that one must lose for the other to win.
And if businesses cannot be accommodated within the traditional high street, simply wishing them into buildings that don’t meet their requirements isn’t much of an economic strategy.
Enniskillen needs investment.
It needs shops.
It needs independent businesses.
It needs restaurants.
It needs entertainment.
It needs reasons for families and younger people to spend time here.
And it needs a strong town centre.
Those things shouldn’t be competing ambitions.
Perhaps the question shouldn’t always be:
How do we stop people shopping somewhere else?
Perhaps we should be asking:
How do we make Enniskillen somewhere people actively want to shop, eat, visit and spend their time?
Because protecting the town from change won’t necessarily protect its future.
This article is an opinion piece by Enniskillen Mix. It reflects our commentary on the continuing debate surrounding development in Enniskillen and should not be read as an allegation of improper conduct by any individual, business or organisation.
