Shops complex takes step forward

Boston borough council backs the Merchants Quay proposals

A new shopping complex in Lincolnshire will create hundreds of jobs when it opens in 2012, it has been claimed.

Developers Modus Properties want to build the Merchants Quay complex on a 10-acre site between West Street and the River Haven, Boston.

It will include a hotel as well as a 60,000sq ft department store.

Councillors will be asked at a meeting on 31 March to sign a development agreement with Modus which will then submit a planning application.

In a report backing the plans, Boston Borough Council's director of development Phil Drury said: "Not to invest and go forward in terms of encouraging new development into the area will mean Boston stands still while other towns and cities move forward."