Developer UK Commercial Property Trust also revealed it had signed up Debenhams as the anchor tenant for its New Riverside Development plans.

The retailer will take 95,000 sq ft of the 225,000 sq ft new building, which is to be integrated with the existing Darwin and Pride Hall centres.

To make way for the new complex which will include 50 new shops, 10 restaurants, offices and a 300-space underground car park the old Riverside centre will be bulldozed.

The shopping mall will be covered by a glass, petal-shaped grid shell roof, similar to designs at Cabot Circus in Bristol and Trinity Leeds.

The developer said that Shrewsbury had significant potential as a retail destination, with a large, affluent catchment area where no new retail space has been built for the past 20 years.

Christopher Hill, Chairman of UKCPT, said: “The Council’s decision to approve our plans and the signing of a pre-let with a leading national department store operator in Debenhams represent a major step forward for the planned New Riverside redevelopment.

“With these critical milestones achieved, UKCPT will continue to progress its plans for the scheme, while assessing all options for the creation of maximum value on behalf of its shareholders.”

London-based Chapman Taylor Partners are the architects.