A MULTI-million pound retail park will spell “a new dawn” for a Flintshire town when it opens later this year, it has been claimed.

Work on the new Connah’s Quay Neighbourhood Centre, a £15 million project in the town’s Fffordd Llanarth, began last year and it is expected to open to shoppers in the autumn.

The jewel in the retail park’s crown, a huge Morrisons supermarket, is beginning to take shape and town leaders say they are hopeful it will be the first of many major changes in Connah’s Quay.

Town centre manager Lisa Fearn told the Leader: “We are very pleased with the way the new development is taking shape and the fact that the builders have kept local residents informed about what is going on.

“2010 is going to be a huge year for Connah’s Quay, with the new retail park and health centre opening and we hope it will be a catalyst for more investment in the town.”

Businesses set to make a home for themselves at the neighbourhood centre include a chemist, bookmakers, Home Bargains and travel agent, as well as a host of firms that were based on the old precinct at the site, which was demolished to make way for the new park.

There will also be a new 318-space car park, display of public art and seating and landscaping.

Steve Perrett, partner at Cheetham & Mortimer, the property consultants in charge of the development, said: “The building work is all going according to plan and Morrisons is definitely starting to look like a supermarket now.

“Everything is on track to open to the public in the autumn and we are in negotiations with several businesses who are interested in taking on the few vacant units we have left.”