By Bianca Capazorio

A major new development in the western suburbs of Port Elizabeth is on the cards, involving turning the area around the Hunters Retreat Hotel in Cape Road into a larger retail centre and establishing a residential complex.

A document submitted to a Nelson Mandela Bay council committee says "the proposed development revolves around anchoring the development with a national supermarket chain by recycling the existing Action Cricket floor space".

"A series of line shops will tie together the existing buildings. This will give a better flow . . . and provide a wider range and an improved service," applicant Metroplan, acting on behalf of Hunters Retreat Property Trust, says in a request for rezoning.

The Action Cricket centre will be housed in a new structure and a "series" of townhouses will be built. The existing hotel will be retained, but the bottle store will be demolished. The plans will take the existing area from 5 246m? to 9 097m?.

One objection to the development was received, requesting that the trees abounding Huguenot Street not be chopped down. The applicant said imposing a condition on conserving the trees would be "unreasonable".

The recommendation by the spatial planning department was that the application be approved with conditions including that any road developments required would be for the developer's account.