City Sentral shopping centre plan to be downsized

PLANS for a shopping centre development in Stoke-on-Trent are being re-thought by the developer and are to be significantly reduced in scale.

According to reports, Realis Estates said it would release details of a “reduced size scheme” for City Sentral in Hanley soon.

It was granted planning permission for a 650,000 sq ft (15 acre) site in 2011 but that contract expired in February.

A report commissioned by the city council which said the current retail market could not “support the proposed development”.

The report, written by retail consultants WYG, said the scale needed to “better reflect current market conditions”.

Hopes that Mark & Spencer would be a tenant at City Sentral seem to have been dashed by the retailer’s plans to build a new store at the nearby Wolstanton Retail Park.

Likewise, plans to include a cinema development have been put at risk as a result of a new nine-screen multiplex being built at the nearby Intu Potteries shopping centre.