THE developer behind the new West Way shopping centre will rethink plans for a multi-screen cinema and could build more family housing following meetings with residents.

Mace will present a public exhibition of its revised proposals early next month.

They could feature another row of shops opposite Elms Parade and a three-storey community building where the existing car park is.

Workshops with different sections of the community have led the firm to review cinema plans and the mix of student and residential housing.

Director Huw Griffiths said: “We picked up on the concerns of people at the workshops and have listened to them.

“There is demand for a cinema, but a larger one like at the Kassam Stadium – and that was never our intention. Therefore the cinema is under review.”

Mr Griffiths said two operators had come forward to run a cinema but only a larger multi-screen complex that people had objected to during the consultation.

He said more family housing would be introduced to alleviate Oxford’s crisis – also following public feedback.

Provisional plans seen by the Oxford Mail and shown to various groups – from young professionals to businesses – detailed a three-storey community building.

A community centre would sit on the ground floor with a library and shared space on the first floor. The top floor could become a small business centre.

The Mace director admitted buildings on the corner of West Way and Westminster Way would “not be small” but would become more domestic-sized moving west.

Campaigner Chris Church said more family housing in the area was vital.

He added: “This sounds like really great news. The ground floor of the development will pretty much all be retail so the question is what goes upstairs. The one thing we all know Oxford needs is homes and putting homes near to shops and near to bus routes makes sense.”

A previous application by Mace and partners Doric to demolish Elms Parade shops and Field House sheltered accommodation in favour of a supermarket, gym, cinema, hotel and 500 student flats was turned down in December last year.

A new four-week public consultation has begun into a set of guidelines for the future West Way development – which new plans will have to adhere to.

Last month Vale of White Horse District Council deferred a decision on a document which would have permitted buildings of up to eight storeys and allowed uses such as a cinema, hotel and library.

To see the document and respond go to consult.southandvale.gov.uk