As well as a 4,000sq m Tesco store, the development will feature an additional 1,953 sq m of retail space, as well as 845sq m of office accommodation and a creche and medical centre covering 600sq m.

Five hundred surface and basement car-parking spaces will also be provided at the complex at Altamont Street with access from the basement via travelators. It is expected that the retail mix will include fashion, lifestyle, pharmacy, hair and beauty and food uses. The residential aspect of the scheme, which is located opposite the train station, will comprise 140 luxury apartments.

"This kind of commercial development is unprecedented in Westport and having an anchor like Tesco signed up will increase the anticipated footfall considerably, " says Sean Coyne of DTZ Sherry FitzGerald Galway.

"Traditionally, Westport has had a reputation as a great place in which to socialise in the evenings. The problem for local traders is that more and more people have been travelling to Castlebar to do their weekly shopping. Hopefully this development will buck that trend.

"Initially the planners would have been a little bit negative towards the scheme. It was literally local pressure that pulled it across the line in the end. Everybody in the town is behind the development and they all know how very badly needed it is."

For further information contact Aidan Gavin or Patricia Hassett, DTZ Sherry FitzGerald, 091-569181.