The redevelopment of Didcot town centre will go ahead, according to South Oxfordshire District Council.

But it has refused to say when work on the scheme, including a Sainsbury's superstore, cinema and arts centre, will start on an 18-acre site between Broadway and Hitchcock Way.

Town centre manager Vic Clinch put the district council's chief executive, David Buckle, on the spot when he asked for an update on the start of the proposed Orchard Centre redevel- opment.

Earlier this year, the council removed a site development notice advertising that the Orchard Centre was due to open last spring.

Since then, district councillors and officers have continued to be upbeat about the planned redevelopment, explaining that it was the largest and most complex scheme ever undertaken by the council.

At a public Didcot area forum at Hagbourne Village Hall last week, Mr Clinch, who is not employed by the district council but by the Didcot Development Agency liaison group, said: "I am constantly being asked when the town scheme will start -- next month, in three months or 12 months?"

Mr Buckle said: "A lot of these matters are at a confidential stage."

He said that despite delays for legal and other reasons, work was due to start soon.

"The town centre redevelopment will go ahead -- there is no question of that. We are in discussions with the developers Taylor Woodrow about when it will start," he added.

Mr Buckle pointed out that according to the agreement with developers, the latest date for work to begin on site was July, although he hoped that it would start earlier.

Mr Buckle said that while Sainsbury's were already signed up as the 'anchor store' in the new development, other retailers were completing legal agreements.

Because of commercial confidentiality, Mr Buckle said he was unable to name other retailers likely to be part of the redevelopment.

He added that the cinema and arts centre were "still at the planning stage".