Planning permission has been granted by Oxford City Council for the Reserved Matters submission for Westgate Oxford Alliance's £500m redevelopment of the Westgate Centre.

The Alliance, a joint venture between The Crown Estate and Land Securities, spent four years preparing the plans and undertaking extensive consultation on the 800,000 sqft retail-led mixed use development.

Sara Fuge, Development Manager, Westgate Oxford Alliance, said:  "We are delighted with the positive decision from Oxford City Council. We have been working hard over the last four years with local stakeholders to develop a scheme to deliver a world-class retail and leisure destination for Oxford and now look forward to starting work early next year".

The existing Westgate Centre will be completely refurbished and some adjacent land to the south redeveloped to provide around 70 new shops including a three floor 13,000 sqm John Lewis department store, new cafés, restaurants and leisure uses including a five screen Curzon Cinema plus a mix of new open and covered streets and public squares/spaces and roof top terraces with views over the city.

Cllr Ian Hudspeth, Leader of Oxfordshire County Council, said: "This is an excellent step forward for Oxford city centre. This will revitalise the area and bring much needed jobs and investment. I am greatly looking forward to the work starting."

There will also be a two storey basement car park including new cycle parking, 59 new homes, a walkway along Castle Mill Stream, new public conveniences, a new shopmobility facility and the retention of the existing Oxford Central Library.

In all 3,400 new jobs will be created with the development due for completion in autumn 2017, with the scheduled commencement of works to start on site in early 2015.