FOR a town which has not had a cinema since the ABC shut in 1999, Redditch now has two rival schemes for multi-screen complexes on the table.

The council has already announced it wants a cinema as part of its ambitious £40 million leisure and entertainment project on the site of Abbey Stadium.

But now Kingfisher Centre owners Thornfield have submitted plans for a cinema as the next phase of their £60 million revamp.

The Thornfield scheme calls for Car Park 4 to be torn down to make way for the cinema, as well as a further leisure unit and food outlets.

Centre bosses have been in talks with leading cinema operators and work on demolishing the multi-storey could start in about 12 months.

Thornfield director David Carver said: "We hope to progress with the application in the next four to six months. We would like to have an approved scheme towards the end of summer and then we'll get a final tenant line-up agreed. It will probably be about 12 months before work starts."

The council's own planning application is due to be submitted next month, 17 months after the scheme was first unveiled.

Councillor David Cartwright said it was inevitable there would be competition between the schemes.