Malls bid gets back on track

Multi-million-pound plans to create one giant shopping mall in Shrewsbury town centre are back on track, it emerged today.

A scheme to develop the "gap-site" in Raven Meadows - which links the Darwin and Pride Hill shopping centres - is set to get the go ahead next week.

The bid has been made by Morris Property, the company which owns the land.

A glass-fronted complex will be built on the rundown site, currently used as a car park, and the ground floor entrance and three main shopping floors will be visible from the road.

Shoppers will be able to walk in between the Pride Hill and Darwin centre as the new development will open up linking corridors.

Outline planning permission to develop the site was granted two years ago.

Now planning chiefs are recommending that full permission is granted by the borough council's development control committee at a meeting on Tuesday.

The new scheme to link the Pride Hill and Darwin malls is separate from Dunedin's bid - the former owner - which had planned a new Castle Gate super centre.

A report sent to councillors says the gap-site is crossed by the line of a medieval ditch and that the Raven Meadows land is known to have been built upon. Shropshire County Council is recommending a condition be put on the agreement for a programme of archaeological work and site investigation.