Imagine the scene. You walk down a bus-free Queen Street, Oxford, past a transformed Bonn Square - with no-one swearing or asking you for change while swigging down a can of Special Brew - and enter a smart new shopping centre.

As you make your way through the swish new entrance and past dozens of shops, you decide to move to the upper floor to get a bite to eat or a coffee in one of many restaurants or cafes.

Above them, there will be roof-top flats. There will be the option to use a health and fitness club or let the children make use of playgroup facilities.

Feeling refreshed, you then make your way to the end of the 70-store centre to have a look round a major department store which lies at the opposite end of the 440,000 sq ft complex.

When you have finished your shopping expedition, you can take a lift down to the bus interchange to make your way home again - or find your car in the 1,400-space underground car park.

This is the vision for Oxford's Westgate Centre in 2004.

The £220m plans will effectively double the size of the existing centre and, according to developers and city planning officers, will confirm the city's place as a major regional shopping centre. The public were given their first chance to have their say on the plans yesterday (Tues, Oct 26) and are being strongly encouraged to fill in and place questionnaires in a postbox provided in the centre.

A display stand gives details of what is being proposed.

The questionnaires are also being sent out to 90,000 homes with next week's Oxford Star - the Oxford Mail's sister paper.

There is a website which should be in place by next Monday - www.westgateoxford.co.uk - and the public can leave messages on a free hotline number, 0500 855371.

On top of that, there will be a major public meeting in Oxford Town Hall, St Aldates, at 6.30pm on Thursday, November 11, and several smaller meetings with specialist groups.

The consultation period will end on Friday, November 19.

As far as Oxford City Council is concerned, the fact that the developers, Capital Shopping Centres, are willing to invest so much in the scheme is proof that the controversial Oxford Transport Strategy has worked.

And the response from shops wanting to be part of the new Oxford has already been huge.

Jane Dickers, spokesman for Oxford City Centre Management, said: "We are expecting some big names. A number of retailers are clamouring to have space in Oxford.

"The response so far has been phenomenal. "The demand is very high - partly because they want to be here and partly because current availability is very low.

"This is going to be good."

Richard Cable, group development manager for CSC, while refusing to give names, has also made it clear that there will be no shortage of top names bidding for the new department store.

The project will also generate literally thousands of jobs - for construction and retail workers alike - although it could be argued that is not something Oxford desperately needs.

One thing that will go as part of the plans is the existing multi-storey car park, which many people consider to be an eyesore.

Although a state-of-the-art bus interchange will be created at the Old Greyfriars Street/Castle Street/Norfolk Street junction, there will also be a new underground car park serving roughly the same number of cars that the multi-storey does now. Clearly, the development will take some time. It will stretch as far as Thames Street.

Therefore, there is naturally concern about the disruption the work will cause in the St Ebbe's area.

Mr Cable said a lot of the work could be contained within the existing centre, but acknowledged: "There may well be disruption on the edge."

Although the city has started negotiations with CSC and LaSalle, which currently leases much of the Westgate centre from the council, the plans have still to gain planning permission.

An application is expected early in the New Year. A winning package Oxford's £1.8m Westgate Centre, when it opened in June 1972, was among the most modern in the country.

But, less than 30 years later, most onlookers would acknowledge that it is now looking sadly out of date.

Richard Giles, Oxford City Council's head of property, said: "It was a market leader at the time but, with the passage of time, it is now clearly showing its age.

"At the same time, there has been a proliferation of other major shopping centres in towns surrounding Oxford.

"You have a new one planned in Banbury, the Oracle at Reading, Swindon is well catered for and there's been a recent development at Cheltenham. All of those are having an impact."

He added: "I think we have the makings of a winning combination here. The city itself is a tremendous attraction. The combination of the types of shops there are in the Covered Market, the University buildings and Oxford's heritage, with what is being planned for the Westgate, will give Oxford a unique package."

Centre manager Rhoda Joseph thinks it unlikely that the Westgate name will change - but it is possible.

She said: "It crossed my mind to find out what local people think. We have no plans to change the name at this stage, though." Question on car park ONE question which may be confusing many people is, if Oxford City Council wants to keep motorists out of the city centre, why will there be a 1,400-space underground car park built as part of the development?

And, on the flipside, if the Westgate is going to be twice the size it is now, will there not be a need for twice the amount of parking space instead of a number com- parable to that in existence now?

Richard Giles, the city's head of property, is convinced that the council has the balance right by providing space for 1,400 cars - and demolishing the existing multi-storey car park at the same time.

He said: "I envisage that people's thinking will have changed by the time the shopping centre is in existence.

"I think shoppers will make more use of park and rides and I think people will move towards better use of public transport.

"The idea of a pedestrianised city centre is about giving the city back to the people."

He acknowledged that there will still be some who will want to park in the city centre, but the council is likely to keep a close eye on how the public respond during the consultation exercise.

Story date: Wednesday 27 October

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.