A PUBLIC exhibition of plans for the new Octagon Park development at Angel Drove has already attracted widespread interest, with scores of residents turning up to view the plans inside the first few hours.

The exhibition is being held at The Maltings, in Ship Lane, Ely on Friday from 3pm-7pm and Saturday from 10.30am-3pm.

The developers behind the scheme, Healy Investments, say that up to 300 jobs will be created in the Octagon Park development, which will span more than 30 acres, and insist that it is “not their intention” to compete with Ely’s city centre.

The Ely Traders Association has already expressed concern at the size of the proposed Tesco store however, saying it could draw trade away from the centre.

Tesco say their new, bigger store will create an additional 80 jobs, which they pledge will be advertised locally. The supermarket giant says that the new store will have wider isles and will allow up to three hours free parking.

As well as the larger Tesco store, the park will feature office and industrial units, pub, restaurant and a hotel which, the developers say, will help “claw back” expenditure being lost as people travel outside of the city to fulfil their shopping needs.

Healy Investments say they had found a number of water voles and grass snakes living on the site and pledged to incorporate habitat within the development to accommodate them.

They said: “Our proposals have been carefully designed to respect the Fenland setting and the entrance to the area from Angel Drove has been carefully planned to create gateway feature and access.”

Once the consultation process is complete, developers hope to submit a full planning application by the end of October.