One well-known auctioneer has questioned the motives of a local environmental campaigner who is actively opposing the proposed scheme, accusing him of undermining commercial development in the city. Now trade unions claim there is an orchestrated campaign by sections of the business community and some local politicians to damage the objector's credibility.

KRM Construction Partnership, a Leinster consortium headed by Enniscorthy businessman Dan Kickham, has sought planning for a 280m development on a 5.1acre site bordering Michael Street, New Street, Stephen Street and Brown's Lane.

The Brewery shopping mall will consist of 60 shops, a 150bed four-star hotel, a conference centre, an arts and cultural facility and underground parking for more than 500 cars. The current blueprint is a variation on the original submission which which was rejected by the city council last February on the grounds that it contravened the city development plan.

Advocates of the project point out that building the new centre will create 600 temporary and 700 full-time jobs.

Among those actively oppsing the scheme is WIT lecturer and local Green Party member Brendan McCann, who helped form the Waterford Alliance for Sustainable Inner City Development to coordinate local resistance to the scheme .

In a statement last week, the president of Waterford Council of Trade Unions, Dick Roche, said "the Inner City Alliance has stepped in where the city council has failed, and forced KRM to amend their plans. If it were left to the council, KRM and every other developer would be given free rein to do whatever they wanted".

"We've now had a serious exchange of views at two twohour meetings with the developers, " says Brendan McCann. "We've outlined where we're coming from and they've let us know their position.

We're hoping they'll take our ideas on board and deal with the issue of scale which is our major concern."

However local auctioneer Des Purcell argues that opposing the scheme is ultimately detrimental to the future commercial development of the city. And he points out that Brendan McCann lodged 30 objections/submissions to the Waterford city planning office during the first nine months of this year.

"I want to make it clear that I have absolute respect for every citizen's right to object to a planning application. But I cannot accept that a member of a political party who failed to get elected to the city council or Dail Eireann can have such a disproportionate effect on the future development of Waterford city, " says the auctioneer.

The WCTU points out that Des Purcell has been hired as letting agent for the planned development and claims that consequently "he has a vested interest in restricting public input into the planning process".

"As the regional capital, Waterford needs a second major shopping centre and this will provide four anchor stores and 60 shops, " argues Des Purcell. "If you are developing a town centre or city centre anywhere in Ireland you are working on what were originally Victorian and Georgian layouts. It's a fact of life."

McCann says he understands but rejects Purcell's position. "He might be expressing himself in terms that are over the top, but he is entitled to his point of view. I think he might be misinterpreting my commitment to good planning as something else.

"I did put in a very detailed submission on the current city development plan. I believe that if you don't set out in very clear terms what exactly planning policy is, then people are inclined to push for as much as they can get."

The Alliance has expressed concern over the scale of the proposed development and the possible destruction of houses dating back to the 19th century.

"The area is within the Norman walls of Waterford city so it's an archaeologically sensitive area. The problem is that if your plan is to provide 22,000 square metres of shopping space, well, it has to placed somewhere, either up or down or in or out, " says McCann.

The KRM consortium is anxious to make the point that it has no desire to become embroiled in a local dispute over the implementation of planning regulations.

"That issue has absolutely nothing to do with us, " says spokesman Paul Miskella. He says the company is confident it has adequately addressed the other vexed issue pertaining to the proposed development: traffic congestion.

"We are very conscious that ours is a city-centre site at the heart of an historic urban centre with streets that certainly weren't originally designed for heavy traffic volumes. Indeed, the central location is one of the merits of the development in overall terms. It does however impose an obligation on us to examine in great detail what impact we will have on traffic flows in Waterford.

"We have had a traffic study done and we're putting forward proposals we think will keep the traffic flowing smoothly. We're very happy with what we have now. We think our new proposals deal with all the issues that were raised in relation to our original planning submission."