THE £300m Westgate redevelopment looks set to win county council approval next week, as city centre businesses faced the possibility of compulsory purchase orders.

A report to Oxfordshire County Council recommends backing for the scheme, provided developers pay towards improving public transport and park-and-ride facilities.

And developers will also be asked to produce comprehensive parking and travel plans to reduce the risk of queues into the Westgate hitting traffic movement across the city.

The scheme to increase central Oxford's retail space by a quarter goes before the county council cabinet on Tuesday.

David Robertson, the county council's member for transport, said: "It is common for there to be a long list of conditions for large planning applications such as this one.

"I hope people will see these conditions as the common sense way forward. We have a medieval city with traffic problems and a brand new development that has the potential to create even more congestion, if careful forward planning by all parties is not employed."

Seventeen stores, eight offices and 14 flats in Abbey Place were all sent letters this week, urging them to negotiate to avoid any prospect of compulsory purchase orders having to be obtained.

The Westgate application is to go before the city council's south west area committee on October 10 and then the strategic development committee on October 25.

The report to the county council cabinet says the number of city centre parking spaces would remain broadly the same, despite 5,000 extra shoppers likely to be drawn to new centre on Saturdays alone. It says that as part of the planning process the developer should make financial contributions to improvements to park-and-ride facilities, cycle parking, variable message signing and real-time bus information. The report concedes that air quality levels would be affected in some city centre locations.

County Hall accepts the proposal to relocate the Central Library, provided that a refurbished library of "adequate size and standard" is provided.

But while welcoming the level of pedestrian movement in the shopping complex, the report expresses disappointment that the pedestrianisation of Queen Street is not secured. It says: "What the Westgate application does not provide is a satisfactory alternative route for buses arriving from the south or east to turn round, were they denied access to Queen Street."

If early planning consent was granted, the new development could be completed by October 2011. Construction would be likely to take about four years.

Oxford City Council said this week that owners and occupiers in the proposed Westgate development were being informed that compulsory purchase orders would only be considered as a last resort.

City council spokesman Louisa Dean said: "The letters which we have sent are to advise them that a property referencing team will be calling on them to verify details of all occupiers of each property.

"It explains the background to the process of compulsory purchase which may be necessary if planning permission is granted, and what processes the council would then follow. This is still a preliminary stage as the redevelopment is still subject to planning permission."

Jane McFarland, group development manager for the Westgate Partnership, said the bulk of the Westgate site was owned by the city council and the partnership.

But the CPO process could affect part of Oxford and Cherwell Valley College along with 17 retail units in the centre, belonging to national chains such as Sainsbury and Sports Soccer. She said many had expressed interest in becoming part of the redeveloped centre.

Ms McFarland said: "For a development of this size and complexity, the city council will normally need to consider making a compulsory order. It would only be a final resort where negotiations cannot be agreed within the development programme."

The fiercest opposition is likely to surround plans to demolish homes for disabled and elderly occupants in Abbey Place. Five of the 14 flats are privately owned, with six council tenancies and three occupied under shared equity arrangements.

Christian Patterson, a carer at Abbey Place, said: "The idea of talking about compulsory purchases even before it has gone through the planning procedure is outrageous. There appear to be no proposals to build any flats for the disabled after they have demolished these ones."

"These people moved here specifically to be near facilities in the city centre. It is a pretty brutal way of doing things."

The Green councillor for the Carfax ward, Sushila Dhall, said news of the letters confirmed her fears that the Westgate planning decision "was a foregone conclusion". She said she had written to the Planning Minister Yvette Cooper to express her outrage at the council deciding on the application, while "working in partnership with the developers".

Ms Dhall added: "The people in Abbey Place are among the most vulnerable in my ward. These letters are bound to cause them real stress."