PEOPLE in North Swindon were able to see proposals to upgrade the Orbital Retail Park on Wednesday night as owner British Land held an open meeting to unveil its plans.

Earlier this month British Land submitted plans to make the site more accessible to shoppers, as well as making it more customer friendly.

Dozens of people attended the meeting at the North Swindon Library to air their views on the multi-million pound investment in the centre, which has 15 shops and a range of restaurants.

If British Land gets approval, it will increase the number of pedestrian crossings and improve the traffic-flow around the car park.

There will also be more street furniture and toilets, along with baby-changing facilities.

A new customer information centre is set to be built which will also have several cash machines.

Nick Beckett, the regional centre manager, said: “We are delighted that so many local residents and interested parties took the time to attend the exhibition.

“A number of excellent comments were made and British Land looks forward to delivering an enhanced experience for our customers.”

Many residents have said the proposed changes will benefit the centre, especially the improvements to the car park.

CounToby Elliott (Con, Priory Vale) welcomed the plans, saying the investment will secure its long-term future.

He said: “The Orbital Shopping Park is vital to our area and at the meetingwe saw the exciting redevelopment plans for it. I very much welcome this investment from British Land, which shows their long term commitment to Swindon.

“I was thrilled at the impressive turn-out from members of the public who were able to ask questions.”

If anyone was not able to see the plans on Wednesday they can be viewed on the council’s planning website at http://pa.swindon.gov.uk/publicaccess

It was a busy day for the Orbital on Tuesday as its latest tenant moved in. Costa Coffee opened its doors for the first time in the afternoon and within minutes there was a queue of more than 60 people.

The coffee shop is in the unit of the former Blockbusters store, which closed last year after the company went into administration.

The old unit was divided into two, with Costa taking one half and a betting shop set to take the other.