11:30am Thursday 24th July 2008
By Alicia Kelly
PLANS for a new cinema, a bowling alley, a bigger supermarket and a multi-storey car park have been unveiled for Droitwich.
Two options for the dramatic expansion of the town’s shopping centre into St Andrew’s car park have been put forward by developers Kandahar Real Estate Limited, which owns the site.
The first, option A, would cover four levels including a car park with 500 spaces on the bottom two levels, a larger Morrisons replacement supermarket and more parking on the third, and a cinema over the top on the fourth.
New shops and restaurants would be built between the existing shopping centre and the car park and there would be new access from Priory Lane. Pedestrian crossings from the Saltway would also be included.
Option B would be on four levels with the car park on levels one and two, the larger Morrisons and more parking on level three. The roof would be either grass or sedum.
In this plan the cinema and bowling alley would be separate buildings adjacent to the supermarket on top of other shops. The proposals were unveiled at a public drop-in session last Friday.
Developers are now seeking views about the designs and the plans are on display at the town’s Community Contact Centre in High Street until the end of the week. The plans were also presented to the Wychavon district councillors who represent Droitwich.
Councillor Richard Morris said he was keeping an open mind about the designs and urged people to get involved.
He said: “I’m keen to see what people in the town actually want. This is going to be really, really important for our town and we do have to have open consultation and get people’s views.”
Mike Tyler, Kandahar asset manager, said: “We are plea-sed with the level of public interest in our plans. There has been a high level of support for our emerging proposals and many people have given us their views on these.”
Kandahar will submit a full planning application for the site later this year.
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