ING Real Estate Development has made public its revised plans for the Northgate scheme in Chester, two weeks after the council terminated its development agreement with the firm.
ING said that it would have submitted a revised planning application for the long-awaited £400m scheme later this year. The developer said that it owns around 4.5 acres of land in the city centre and has the “ability and resources” to progress with the project.
The 580,000 sq ft plans, which are on public view at ING’s Forum Shopping Centre, comprise 80 shops, including a department store and 10 large units, as well as 13 restaurants, a 40,000 sq ft cinema, a relocated market hall and 1,100 car park spaces. The scheme would be built on two levels.
A spokesman for ING said the firm “wishes to share its vision for the scheme with the Chester public”.
He added: “ING has the ability and resources to progress these plans for restoring Chester as a premier shopping city with all the economic and employment benefits a scheme of this magnitude would deliver.”
Cheshire West and Chester council terminated its development agreement with ING earlier this month due to there being “little likelihood of progress” under the arrangement. The partnership dated back to 2000, although plans for the Northgate scheme were put on hold in 2008 due to the recession.
Cheshire West and Chester council declined to comment on the revised plans.
daniel.cunningham@estatesgazette.com
