Ceredigion's Welsh Liberal Democrat MP Mark Williams has called for greater consultation with local shopkeepers over plans to build a new Debenhams store in the middle of Aberystwyth.

The controversial plans could see 15 town centre shops and residential housing in Queen St bought by Compulsory Purchase Order by the County Council to make way for the development of a Debenhams store behind Great Darkgate and Chalybeate Streets. The plans have grown extensively from the original which had an enhanced access to the Post Office development site off Great Darkgate St.

After speaking to shop owners who would be affected by any proposed plans, Mark Williams MP said: "The greatest concern that has been expressed to me in recent days is the lack of conultation with shopowners and managers over these plans. We're talking about people's livelihoods potentially being at stake and the least they deserve is to be able to hear what the plans entail face-to-face and not through the pages of the local press or through word-of-mouth.

"Some shopowners have recently spent money, with support from the Welsh Assembly Government, to renovate their shop fronts. Yet the Welsh Assembly Government have on the other hand it would seem, agreed to provide funding for a potential large-scale development, but only on the condition that the Council agrees to use CPOs if negotiations with property owners are unsuccessful. There clearly seems to be a complete lack of joined-up thinking from the Welsh Government in Cardiff if on the one hand they're willing to support businesses by offering grants to renovate their properties, and then on the other, they're pushing the County Council into the direction of CPOs by saying that they won't provide funding for the development if they don't.

"The consensus it seems to me is that there is support for the development of Aberystwyth, to bring in quality stores to pull in more people to spend their money in the local economy. But this should not be done to the detriment of the small, independent traders in town who give Aberystwyth its unique quality.

"Any development of this nature is bound to be controversial. What is needed therefore, is an open dialogue between all sides, so that a feasible and attractive way forward can be found to ensure that Aberystwyth's future economic viability in these difficult times is not threatened, but indeed, enhanced".