THE DIRECTOR of Festival Place was unaware of council discussions to build on part of the town centre shopping centre until The Gazette published the story earlier this summer.

Neil Churchill told this newspaper that the secret talks among councillors and senior officials came "out of the blue" and caused his team's credibility with some of its stores to be hit.

It comes as part of an exclusive interview with The Gazette covering everything from the future of the town centre to the Basingstoke Deserves Better campaign.

Mr Churchill, responsible for striking the deals with occupiers of the 1.1 million square foot shopping centre, said he was not involved or even aware of talks that could yet see 1,500 flats built in and around the town centre, including some in Festival Place.

He told The Gazette: "It came out of the blue that these discussions were being had and we were not very happy about it, because it referenced areas of Festival Place that would be turned into residential that currently have occupiers at the minute.

"Our relationship with our businesses, our credibility goes down slightly.

"What happens to the stores? If others are suggesting that big rafts are being turned into residential, it makes us look uncredible, because why aren’t we having that discussion with [those stores]? We didn’t know and we weren’t happy about it."

As previously reported, a secret committee of nine councillors and two officers have been discussing the plans to build housing in Festival Place.

Last week, opposition councillors attempted to force members advisory panels such as these to be made publicly accessible, but the motion was voted down.

Mr Churchill, who took over as centre director in 2018, said he wasn't opposed to the principle of residential development in the town centre, "inter-mingled" with the likes of commercial, leisure and cultural development, but only if there is the demand for it.

"Without a doubt it could be an option, but again is it a vision or a reality? At the moment, it’s the former."

It comes just weeks after the council released its first draft masterplan on the future of the town centre, which calls for an end to the "dominance" of Festival Place and The Malls.

Reacting to the point, Mr Churchill said: "I was surprised. Dominance is quite a strong word and there is no getting away from the fact that we represent quite a big part of the town, but what are they threatened by?

"We do support the rest of the town and we make the rest of the town viable and often a reason for people to come to the town.

"It’s an unnecessary term to use, but I think it’s unfair to say that we’re dominant. We’re dominant from a land perspective, but we’re not dominant from our attitude and how we support other stakeholders in the town."