THE new owner of the Maylord shopping centre is calling on ESG (Edgar Street Grid) and council bosses to take another look at their plans for redeveloping large parts of Hereford city centre.

Roy England, chief executive of the Midlands-based property group DRE Group, which has invested £40 million in acquiring Maylords, believes the ESG proposal to build a retail centre on the cattle market site could have a detrimental effect on existing shopping areas in the city.

John Lewis and Waitrose are among the businesses who have expressed an interest in moving to the new retail quarter but Mr England wants the new companies to be closer to Maylords on land north of Blueschool Street - currently set aside as the civic quarter in the ESG masterplan.

He believes that by developing Maylords and removing its roof, the 21-year-old centre could become a link between Hereford's existing shopping areas and ESG's proposed new retail site.

In a letter to ESG chief executive Jonathan Bretherton, Mr England writes: "If it is developed as proposed, the new retail park will become a destination of its own.

"Shoppers will drive to the new retail area, park, shop, return to their cars and go home.

"The two retail areas will operate on a mutually exclusive basis - the new providing an attractive footplate for progressive retailers and the old having to accommodate lower pedestrian flows and falling values.

"The existing retail sector will become disenfranchised by the new scheme and parts of the town, previously designated as areas for growth, will become tertiary and retail investment will decline in those areas.

"We recommend consideration be given to a retail scheme which goes hand in hand with the town centre whereupon Widemarsh Street and the Maylord Centre become the effective links with a new retail quarter sited on the area currently designated as the civic quarter."

Responding to the letter, ESG chief executive Jonathan Bretherton, said: "ESG has, from the outset, included Maylord in its development plans and sees a revitalised Maylord shopping centre as a key element in the overall regeneration of Hereford.

"We will work closely with the new owner as our plans for the retail/leisure quarter on the site of the livestock market progress."