'Marry malls to town centres'

The Upper Bann assembly member said town centre planners needed to find a way to merge the concept of town centres with shopping malls and large retail centres.

He said: "In Lurgan the Tesco superstore was located sympathetically close to the town centre and so there is a spill-over to retail outlets on the high street.

"Planners need to find a way to marry the concept of superstores and shopping malls with town centres.

"I do not believe that the two ideas need to be mutually exclusive. After all, Belfast city centre has shopping malls at Castlecourt, Victoria Square and the Spires. In all these cases the idea of a shopping mall has been blended into the town centre.”

He continued: "If planners do not take affirmative action now, the retail experience will be considerably diminished if it is confined to out-of-town shopping centres.

"They have their place but more and more of them ought to be encouraged to locate close to town centres and planners should clear the way for this to happen.

"Losing our town centres will not only damage retail but will diminish our civil lives. This will have serious consequences for society as a whole.”

He concluded: "We need to find ways to provide more covered shopping in town centres to make the shopping experience better on the many rainy days we have in Northern Ireland. Marrying the concept of town centres with shopping malls must become our number one planning priority.”