A MULTI-MILLION-POUND scheme to double the size of Didcot’s Orchard shopping centre aims to turn it into one of Oxfordshire’s top shopping destinations.

Hundreds of new jobs could be created in the first phase of a £125m expansion for the 10-acre site unveiled yesterday.

It 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.

John Lewis, Marks & Spencer and Debenham’s could all open flagship stores by 2014, as part of 200,000 sq ft development of new shops, cafés and restaurants.

The scheme, agreed between South Oxfordshire District Council and developer Hammerson, is also set to create 1,500 new car parking spaces.

About 400 of them would be in a multi-storey next to Sainsbury’s petrol station.

Hammerson’s development executive Simon Betty said: “We would like to be in a position to submit a planning application by the end of the year with some shops opening by 2014.

“The current Orchard Centre, which we have managed for four years, is 100 per cent let and trading well and we are confident in Didcot as a location to invest in.

“We are talking to M&S, John Lewis and Debenhams as part of a wider pool of retailers we are trying to bring in.

“Getting a good anchor store is crucial and I expect phase two of the Orchard Centre will bring hundreds of new jobs to the town.”

Hammerson will pay land acquisition and development costs, and detailed designs will be drawn up over the next six months.

The range of facilities – including whether a proposed new library – hotel and private health club will be built, has yet to be decided.

South Oxfordshire District Council strategic director Anna Robinson said: “The facilities will be provided if the public bodies want them and are willing to pay for them.

“The county council has said it would like to see a new library in Didcot, but it can only happen if there is money for it.

“The really good thing is, at a time when across the country there is very little happening in terms of commercial and residential development, we have got one of the biggest retail developers in the county keen to go ahead.”

Hammerson’s will now negotiate with landowners to acquire all of the development site.

Ms Robinson said she hoped there would be no need for compulsory purchase orders. The £50m first phase of the Orchard Centre opened in 2005, and included the Cornerstone Arts Centre, Cineworld cinema, and dozens of new shops.

South Oxfordshire District Council leader Ann Ducker said the agreement marked an important movement for a future of Didcot, a time where the 3,200 home Great Western Park development is already under way.

And the council’s chief executive David Buckle said: “Phase two will meet the needs of Didcot’s expanding population and will give shoppers an alternative to travelling in to Reading or Oxford.”