PLANS to transform the Winwick Street area with a multi-screen cinema are on hold - just as blueprints for another picture house are announced.

The £25 million scheme, including a 10-screen cinema, bowling alley, bars and restaurants had been in question since developers Modus voiced fears in February about removing derelict properties on the site. Now the GUARDIAN can reveal that Manchester-based Modus have withdrawn their interest in the massive site, after failing to see their imaginative bid become a reality.

But council development bosses are in talks with a new interested party with planning permission for a leisure park, granted in June 1997, still available.

The announcement comes as Thomas Locker has submitted proposals for a new nine-screen cinema and high-density housing estate at their Church Street headquarters.

Clr Terry O'Neill, commenting on the Winwick Street land, said: "Modus are now out of the game. They were not able to put a deal together in time.

"There is another company which has taken the initiative and there is a live planning permission for the site."

The issue of compensation for existing businesses in Winwick Street, which would need to be relocated before any proposals progressed, needs to be resolved.

"The other point about that area is that we are trying to make Winwick Street a conservation area, which will include the railway station and Cheshire Lines building, so that whole area could be regenerated," said Clr O'Neill.

Meanwhile Locker has launched another attempt to redevelop their factory site, after an application for a supermarket and filling station was rejected 12 months ago.

Alternative plans could see either a cinema and restaurant and housing, with 300 car parking spaces, or a 40,000 square foot retail unit and new homes, replacing existing workshops and warehouses, with a smaller car park, if councillors consent.

But it is understood that engineering firm APW is no longer incorporated into the scheme, an aspect of the package which sparked controversy last year.

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