PLANS for the town's long-awaited bowling alley and cinema complex are back on the billing, with a new developer taking over the reins.

Last Wednesday, East Herts District Council appointed City Grove Leisure Plc to oversee the previously beleaguered project, and hopes are high for the attraction to open on cue for the millennium.

The gigantic £4m scheme promises leisure and entertainment for the whole family, including a six-screen multiplex, a ten-pin bowling alley, a health and fitness club, and two themed restaurants.

The announcement has bowled over Bishop's Stortford movie fan Gareth Griffiths, 12, who was so disappointed when the previous contract folded in February that he organised a petition with his friends.

The Bishop's Stortford High School pupil said: "I'm pleased they've got another developer, but they'd better not let us down this time because we've been waiting long enough already.

"I don't really mind who the contractor is as long as we get a cinema and as long as they live up to their promises this time."

Optimistic that the new developer will keep to keep to its word is Bishop's Stortford councillor Bernard Engel, chairman of the working party which recommended its appointment.

He said: "We have selected an excellent developer who has a good reputation in this line of business. It also promised to give us what we wanted -- a bowling alley and cinema complex.

"I'm very pleased indeed as we did listen to what the people were saying, especially the young people, and hopefully we are going to give them what they want."

Last week's council decision, which received strong all-party support, followed a painstaking four-month scrutinisation of 18 firms, four of which were shortlisted to draw up detailed plans.

At every step of the way, councillors were guided by an experienced firm of planning consultants who described City Grove as "good, solid, reliable and experienced developers", Cllr Engel explained.

Thanks to a favourable business climate, the council will receive a lump sum from the developer, who will then lease the council-owned land.

Cllr Engel said: "The only difference this time round is that the climate of business has changed so much in the past three to four years that people are prepared to pay us rather than the other way around.

"Businesses realise that the car is now a dirty word, so in-town sites are very popular."

However, the plans are now subject to approval by John Prescott, Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, whose decision could take up to three months.

If he gives it the green light, it is envisaged that building work on the scheme will start in March or April of next year, taking one year to complete.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000.Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.