New £95m facelift for town centre

The new centre will open in 2008

A major £95m redevelopment plan has been unveiled for Wrexham town centre.

Debenhams has signed up to build a new store on the former site of a supermarket at Eagles Meadow.

Restaurants, cafes, a bowling alley and new one and two bedroomed apartments will also be built, transforming the rundown area.

A full planning application will be submitted to Wrexham Council for consideration next week.

The council said it hoped that the new centre would inject vibrancy into the area and transform the town into a shopping centre of regional importance.

The site will be transformed, say developers

"It's an exciting chapter, as a council we're all very excited," said council leader Aled Roberts.

The scheme by developers Wilson Bowden includes up to 40 retail units, proposals for 50 apartments and a 1,000 space car park.

Paul Roberts, Wrexham council's strategic director said the project has been in the planning stages for the past 10 years.

"We wanted to take Wrexham forward. We've undertaken a lot of work and made some very big changes to Wrexham," he said.

"We did not want a development to take place in Eagles Meadow which wouldn't take Wrexham a huge leap forward," he added.

The scheme, which would be built around a Spanish Steps theme with a cascading water feature is expected to be opened in 2008.