Orchard plan to bear fruit (From The Oxford Times)

Orchard plan to bear fruit

5:00pm Saturday 31st December 2011 in Didcot By Andrew Ffrench

Julia Williams

DIDCOT’S new Chamber of Commerce president has vowed to keep pressure on developers Hammerson to deliver a £125m shopping centre redevelopment.

Hammerson, which owns Orchard shopping centre, had hoped to submit a planning application for phase two of the scheme by the end of the year, with some shops opening by 2014.

But earlier this month the company admitted plans would not be lodged until this spring.

Now hotel manager Julia Williams, who runs Premier Inn and Applecart restaurant at Milton interchange, has been appointed president of the town’s Chamber of Commerce.

She said: “The expansion of the Orchard Centre will be a huge investment and we want Hammerson’s application in as soon as possible.

“Phase one has already been successful and in the run-up to Christmas there were a few occasions when the Sainsbury’s car park was full.

“I will urge Hammerson to press ahead to bring in Debenhams, M&S, or John Lewis because the big-name stores will bring in so many more people and independent shops in Broadway should benefit.

“I want to publicise the link between the Orchard Centre and Broadway and try to get traders signed up to a loyalty card scheme.”

Miss Williams, 34, said Whitbread-owned Premier Inn would show confidence in Didcot next year with a plan to extend the 84-bed hotel by taking the number of bedrooms to 134.

She added: “Thousands of homes are being built at Great Western Park and there is a market for the Orchard Centre, with good road links into the town from major routes like the A34.”

Hundreds of jobs could be created by the expansion, with the 10-acre development being supported by South Oxfordshire District Council.

The plan includes dozens of new shops, town centre houses, an extension to Sainsbury’s, and the possibility of Didcot Library moving to the middle of the centre from Broadway.

Ms Williams replaces Mike Foster as chamber president following his year in office. Mr Foster, who runs the Treehouse children’s play centre, next to the Orchard Centre, is one of the traders who fears his business will have to move when phase two is built along Lower Broadway.

He said: “I found myself in a difficult position where potentially there was a conflict of interest between what I wanted to say as president and my own position as a businessman.

“As chamber president you have to argue that phase two of the Orchard Centre will be good news for the town but there are a number of businesses who now face a period of uncertainty and the prospect of having to move.”