Radical change bid for garden centre

The centre is enjoyed by thousands of people each year, including keen gardeners and coach parties of visitors.

It is owned by Haskins Garden Centres, which bought it three years ago and has been renovating the centre since.

But the company says the buildings are now too run down to be repaired and have facilities that are out of date.

While some of the greenhouses at the rear of the site will remain in use for growing plants, almost 19,000 square metres of existing garden centre and nursery buildings will be demolished if the plan gets the go-ahead.

The new centre would boast a purpose-built caf and an Open Skies glass-house with a larger sales area and car park.

It would also provide an extra seven permanent jobs and 11 part-time jobs for the area.

The toilets, which are currently situated outside, would be relocated indoors and facilities for the disabled, especially changes in levels throughout the centre, would be improved.

The new building would not run adjacent to the road as the current one does, but be set at an angle so that the main view of it would only be visible from its car park.

Pedestrian access to the centre would be improved as part of the plans and a possible widening of the roundstone roundabout to allow for two lanes of traffic has been suggested.

The plans stated that the new centre would have no material impact on the safety or operation of the local highways network.

Haskins is a long established garden centre firm, which has evolved from a nurserymen's background and operates four garden centres in the south of England.