The modernised Westgate shopping centre in Oxford will not be ready until 2010 if talks on transport links drag on, says its owner.

Richard Cable

Richard Cable, development director of Capital Shopping Centres, issued the warning after county council leader Keith Mitchell suggested this week a second public inquiry could be ordered if transport issues were not addressed urgently.

London-based Capital is planning a £220m redevelopment of the centre but has been thwarted once by a public inquiry.

A study commissioned by the city council claimed this week that Oxford shoppers would go to Milton Keynes and Reading if the Westgate was not rebuilt.

Capital is preparing a second planning application, with opening pencilled in for 2009.

Mr Cable said: "When we started these plans in 1997 we hoped that we would be open by now but the public inquiry prevented that.

"There's never going to be a perfect transport solution for Oxford and we want everyone to pull together so that we're in a position to submit a detailed planning application early next year.

"We're not going to do that until we know there's agreement on the transport issue.

"The prospect of a second public inquiry is not an attractive one. We have spent a lot of time and money on this already."

Mr Cable said Capital would be submitting a master plan to city councillors and other interested parties next month as part of a consultation process before the formal planning application is prepared.

A compulsory purchase order inquiry could follow in 2006 and there would then be a three-year building programme.

"We are already looking at 2009 as an opening date and if we spend too long debating transport it could push the opening date back 12 months or more," Mr Cable added.

The original Westgate application was turned down by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott in September 2002, after a public inquiry.

The revised proposals for the centre include an underground parking area off Oxpens Road, while the existing Westgate car park would be demolished.

County council leader Keith Mitchell said earlier this week that the new centre would need as much car parking as possible to ensure that shoppers were not stuck in traffic jams.

Keith Slater, president of the Oxfordshire Chamber of Commerce, said: "The plans for the latest centre are smaller and do not appear to include the transport hub that was there before.

"The councils need to discuss the transport provision and arrive at some joint conclusions as soon as possible."