A TOWN centre multiplex cinema, a third park and ride scheme and a bus station are among proposals for Swindon's development over the next ten years.

The Local Plan has just been released for public inspection, and is filled with dramatic proposals about Swindon's continuing growth.

The document is now on deposit draft, meaning this is the first opportunity for local people to have their say about the development of the borough.

The plan has been drawn up by planning officials at Swindon Council.

When it is finally adopted in 2005, it will provide a legally-binding framework for what developers are allowed to build in Swindon over the next decade.

Many of the proposals contained in the plan are far from concrete because they depend on investment from the private sector.

The document contains ambitious proposals for the redevelopment of the Regent Circus "cultural zone".

These include a new public square, the refurbishment or replacement of the Wyvern Theatre and the creation of a new central library.

The plan also allows for a comprehensive re-development of the bus and railway stations and the surrounding area.

An estimated 70,000 commuters drive into Swindon every day, and planners hope to reduce this figure by building a new park and ride just north of Stratton St Margaret, next to Honda UK and the South Marston Industrial Estate.

The two-hectare site would be built in the triangle of land which lies between the A361 Highworth Road, the B4141 Kingsdown Road and the A419.

According to Government targets set more than a decade ago, 20,000 new homes had to be built in the borough between 1991 and 2011.

Swindon is already well on its way to meeting that quota and there are plans in place to far exceed it.

Some 7,465 new homes must be built to meet the 20,000 target.

Plans are in place for 5,500 more homes in the Northern Development Area near Haydon Wick.

Another 4,500 homes are expected to comprise the Southern Development Area between Old Town and the M4.

The Local Plan also contains details of another 2,098 homes to be built on recycled or brownfield land in urban Swindon.

New shopping developments will be concentrated in the town centre particularly on land to the south of the Brunel Centre, extending to Commercial Road and Farnsby Street.

Council research suggests Swindon has capacity for a new six to eight screen cinema.

The deposit draft of the local plan is available for inspection at libraries and council offices, and copies can be bought from the council, priced at £16.

Comments on it have to be submitted by November 11.