CHELMSFORD: Gasworks will stay wasteland

A HALF a billion pound scheme to sweep away Chelmsford's disused gasworks and replace it with a mini-Bluewater has collapsed, the Chronicle can reveal.

The biggest retail corporation in the world – responsible for Kent's Bluewater shopping centre, Queen's Hospital in Romford and the stunning Petronus Towers in Kuala Lumpur – has been told its million square-feet plan for Chelmsford's riverside in Wharf Road was taking too long by the council.

It would have doubled Chelmsford town centre into a regional shopping force with two department stores – Waitrose and John Lewis – new shops, restaurants and bars, plus more than a 1,000 new homes and 1,200 parking spaces.

The news has run like a shockwave through the existing retail centres and development industry in the town.

Read the full exclusive report in this week's Chronicle.