Retail restrictions plan for Dublin south

Dublin City Council plans to introduce special planning restrictions to the entire south city retail quarter stretching from Dawson Street to George's Street, to rid the area of fast-food outlets and mobile phone shops.

Councillors will vote tonight on a proposal to make the capital's premier shopping district an architectural conservation area with a view to introducing special planning controls to ban certain enterprises.

The conservation area boundary will extend east-west from Dawson Street to George's Street South and north-south from Nassau Street to St Stephen's Green.

Grafton Street, the central spine of the quarter was designated an architectural conservation area last July.

The designation protects the "setting and exterior appearance of structures" and bans certain types of shops from setting up at ground floor level on some of the streets in the area and limits their number in less prominent streets.

Banned and restricted shops would include internet cafes, call centres, bookmakers, takeaways, off-licences, amusement arcades, car rentals and financial institutions. Applications for such shops on non-ground floor level would be considered on their merits.

Other non-retail uses such as cafes, pubs and restaurants would be considered as long as the "primary retail function" of the street was not undermined.

The designation would protect and enhance the "special architectural character of these historic Georgian streetscapes", the council said.