NEIGHBOURS have branded the decision to begin the second phase of Didcot’s Orchard shopping centre as “disappointing”.

Planning bosses approved the £50m scheme, which includes an M&S food store, three new public spaces, a gym and six restaurants, and is expected to create 500 jobs.

South Oxfordshire District Council’s planning committee gave the go-ahead for the development at a meeting at the Didcot Civic Hall last month.

But the scheme still features a controversial new bus route from Didcot Parkway station to the Orchard Centre via Station Road, and many of the street’s residents remain unhappy.

Resident Jenny Wilson said she was disappointed with the decision.

She added: “Didcot has been let down by this decision which as time has gone by, has seemed a foregone conclusion.

“The residents of Didcot were never going to win this battle and were never going to get a democratic decision on the proposal.”

While she welcomed the the addition of more shops, she said they should be created without damaging the town’s existing businesses and infrastructure.

Phase one of the centre was built in 2005 and now developer Hammerson has been given approval to move on to phase two.

The district council said that following a poll of 500 residents it found 88 per cent were in favour of extending the centre.

However, residents are unhappy about plans to re-route buses down Station Road to the Orchard shopping centre, claiming the road is too narrow.

But district council leader John Cotton insisted that there was no other route for the buses. He added that the second phase of the centre’s development would bring a huge number of benefits.

He added: “The council has looked at all the options but there are none that were acceptable to the bus operators and the county council. But that is not the end of it.

“It allows people to do more of their shopping in the town centre.

“It will bring more jobs – there are an awful lot of positives.

Mr Cotton said that if a relief road is built from the A4130 around the Ladygrove estate it will take the pressure off traffic in the town centre and allow buses to use the Jubilee roundabout.

He added: “It’s not something that is going to happen overnight.

“It’s my hope that the bus route will be a short-term downside because within a few years there should be alternatives for that.

“We will be looking at those very closely and doing our best to get the buses out of the pedestrianised area.”