QUESTIONS have been raised about the future of a major town centre redevelopment after another Banbury retail park plan was announced.

A council boss behind the Bolton Road shops plan said it would be affected by permission for a retail park by the M40.

And it is claimed new plans for a retail park at Kraft Foods in Southam Road cast further doubt over the scheme.

The Kraft plan would include six retail units, a petrol station and a 60,000sq ft supermarket – the same size as the Bolton Road store.

Cherwell District Council’s Norman Bolster said Bolton Road was “a little bit on hold” until a decision was made on the “Banbury Gateway” M40 plan.

This would see motorsport firm Prodrive move to the nearby former Hella lighting site to make way for a retail park, to include M&S and Next.

Mr Bolster told the Banbury Cake last week: “They will all have an effect on each other.”

He said: “If you went out now to developers to say ‘are you interested in this?’ they would say ‘we would like some certainty on [Banbury Gateway] before we decide what would be suitable in there or not’.”

The scheme would flatten the Gala Bingo hall and multi-storey car park for a 24-hour supermarket, hotel and five other units.

Mr Bolster, lead member for economic development and estates, refused to speak to the Banbury Cake after the Kraft plan was announced.

He asked us to contact the council’s press office and, in a statement, said the authority was “committed” to Bolton Road.

The Kraft plan would demolish its former storage facility, now run by DHL in Bicester. No Kraft jobs would be lost.

Kraft business development and engineering manager David Jackson said: “It addresses all of our available space in one go.”

Peter Frampton, planning consultant for the Kraft plan, said the town could not support 60,000sq ft supermarkets at the factory and Bolton Road.

He said: “I would be surprised if all three went ahead because of the overall scale.”

Bolton Road could take a smaller supermarket, he said.

The £40m Kraft plan would have six other units, 700 parking spaces and a roundabout at its Southam Road entrance.

The scheme – to replace buildings hired out to other firms – would create 300 jobs and “complement” the town centre, he said.

It comes after the council last year rejected plans for a Premier Inn at the site over concerns it would hit town centre trade.

But Mr Frampton said the development would “attract retailers who generally are not attracted to town centre locations”.

The lack of large town centre stores has been identified as a major trading obstacle by the council and is a key driver for the Bolton Road plan.

Prodrive has argued its plan will help the town as a free shuttle bus would take shoppers to the town centre.

But town centre traders hit out.

Roger McLaren, co-owner of The Baytree cafe in White Lion Walk, said: “The town centre has a lot of independent traders and big boys are bullying them and shutting them down.”

All the schemes will need council planning permission.

An application has gone in for the Gateway scheme and is due to be decided next month.