A new supermarket could be added to the Westgate redevelopment to breathe new life into the recession-hit Oxford shopping centre project.

Plans for a major supermarket in Abbey Place, with a multi-storey car park built on top, are now being looked at to make the much-delayed Westgate scheme viable.

With a John Lewis store still to be the Westgate’s flagship store, Waitrose is being viewed as the early favourite to operate the major food store, which looks like being added to the original plan. Waitrose is owned by the John Lewis Partnership.

The main car park and a turning area for buses had been proposed at Abbey Place.

But it seems the key to getting the massive retail development project restarted is to make the Westgate shopping area bigger.

An additional supermarket would bring in extra millions by increasing the value of the centre, while helping to attract other major retailers to the Westgate. But Oxford City Council has admitted that the new plans for the Westgate would mean the amount of housing included in the development would be substantially reduced to take account of the more difficult financial climate.

It is also likely that the proposed 1,100 car parking spaces will also have to be reduced, if the Westgate retail area is significantly extended to the south.

It would also allow plans for a large underground basement car park at Abbey Place to be scrapped, which would substantially reduce construction costs.

The scheme’s developer, Capital Shopping Centres, had originally proposed building a car park with four floors below ground and five floors above ground at Abbey Place.

The new supermarket would be just across the road, on the other side of Norfolk Street, from the new John Lewis department store, with both stores having frontages on Thames Street.

The idea of extending the retail space in the new Westgate was set out in a report presented to Oxford City Council’s executive yesterday, updating councillors on the progress of the Westgate project.

The report warns: “The scheme as originally envisaged is not currently financially viable and it is unlikely that it will proceed in that form.

“Discussions have therefore been continuing with the developer and the John Lewis Partnership to identify a scheme that is acceptable to all parties.”

While it says the John Lewis store would still be built on the existing car park, bounded by Thames Street and Norfolk Street, the report reveals that a food store on the existing Abbey Place car park, with replacement multi-storey car parking above, is now being discussed with the developer.

Leader of the city council Bob Price said: “The proposal would improve the value of the overall site. It might well be Waitrose, if all went well.

“You can surmise that John Lewis might like to see such an integration, with its food arm just on the other side of the road.”

He said “economic reality” meant that there would be less value in housing for developers.

However, he said there would eventually be scope for substantial new housing in the area as part of the regeneration of Oxford’s West End quarter.

Sushila Dhall, the Green Party city councillor for the Carfax ward, said: “I am appalled that they are thinking of this without any public consultation, or taking into account the huge need for affordable housing in the city. We need to go back to the drawing board.”