BICESTER Village could become even bigger under new proposals for its expansion.

Planning permission for a 5,000 sq m expansion of the site was granted in July, which would see part of the shopping centre demolished along with the nearby Tesco store and petrol station to allow new shops to be built.

Now bosses at the designer retail outlet – which is home to leading brands such as Dior and Vivienne Westwood – want to add an extra 3,000 sq m of floorspace for more shops, cafes and restaurants.

The revised plans mean Bicester Village would increase in size by more than a third.

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At present, it is 21,755 sq m and the planned extension would add an extra 8,218 sq m.

The plans also include proposals for Pingle Drive to be widened and a hamburger-style roundabout to be built at the A41 junction as part of £11m worth of road improvements designed to cut congestion.

Four northbound lanes would be added to the A41 as it passes Pingle Drive, with two of these specifically for traffic heading to Bicester Village.

But residents fear the impact on traffic and parking in Pingle Drive and the surrounding area, saying there is already severe congestion.

Resident Sallie Wright, who lives off Kings Avenue, said: “What is happening at the moment is that along the length of Kings Avenue there are people parked; it is a big problem.”

“I have no confidence that the hamburger roundabout and the other traffic improvements will have any effect. We were promised a park-and-ride and that never materialised.

“They should not expand Bi-cester Village until the existing traffic problems are all sorted.”

A full planning application has not yet been submitted but developers Bicester Nominees and Bicester II Nominees have submitted preliminary proposals for Cherwell District Council to decide if an environment impact assessment is needed along with an application. The council is required to respond within three weeks.

Les Sibley, Oxfordshire county councillor for Bicester West, welcomed the boost the expansion would give to employment but said concerns remain over parking. He added: “I hope the scheme that is proposed will take out a lot of the congestion in and around the town.

“There are good points and bad points but of course new jobs are to be welcomed.”

Tesco received planning permission in January 2013 to build a new, larger store, off Oxford Road, south of its existing site, on the other side of the Aylesbury Road.

It was hoped that the new store would stimulate plans for a new business park on the site, creating up to 2,800 jobs.

A Tesco spokesman said it was looking forward to bringing a new store to the town and would continue to serve people in its existing shop in the meantime.

Bicester Village did not respond to the Oxford Mail’s request for a comment.

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