PLANNING consent for a cinema complex in Cirencester is due to expire this month, but developers are still hoping to go forward with the scheme.

The £48million project by Wildmoor Property Management Ltd, which was originally planned to be complete in summer this year, was approved by Cotswold District Council (CDC) in November 2014.

The proposed development in Brewery Court includes a four-screen cinema, six shops, four restaurants and a 110-bed student accommodation.

But planning permission is set to expire on November 24, as construction work has not started.

If the consent expires, the developer will need to start again and submit a new application to be approved by CDC.

But it appears Wildmoor has not given up on the scheme as it has submitted a condition compliance application, which is being considered by CDC.

A spokesperson for CDC said: “From the council’s point of view, if the planning permission expires, a new application would need to be made if the works have not been started and all pre-commencement conditions discharged.

“However, the applicant has submitted a condition compliance application for the current scheme, which is under consideration by officers.”

Leigh Chapman, Jungle store co-director, whose shop was previously located in Brewery Court, said that he intended to object to a further application because of Wildmoor’s “failure to deliver on promises”.

He said: “The big promise was that the thing would be built and we’d have a cinema. But various cinema operators have dropped out.

“That’s what infuriates a lot of people. You don’t believe what somebody says if their record is that they did not deliver what was promised.

“Now we’ve got a large derelict area. We are concerned about what’s coming next.”

Town councillor Stuart Tarr said: “Given how long it took Wildmoor to bring the Kings Head to completion, I would’ve been very doubtful that planning permission should’ve been given in the first place until they came forward with a more solid proposal.

“How long will Brewery Court remain an eyesore it is today? We don’t have a guarantee of a development and we don’t know if the shops can be easily re-let if it doesn’t succeed.

"The district council must be confident that Wildmoor have the capacity and capability to bring this project to completion.”

Doubts were raised last year over whether a new cinema would ever be completed as construction work had not started.

The plans were thrown into more doubt after Everyman Media Group, which was due to run the cinema, backed out of the deal in November last year.