WORRIED tenants of Oriental City have met the company behind the planned £200 million redevelopment of the Kingsbur shopping centre over concerns for the future of their businesses, writes JANAKI MAHADEVAN.

The redevelopment plan includes a new Oriental City, a B and Q store, homes and primary school.

Tenants fear that it will cost 800 jobs as well as a loss of identity of the centre, which the community calls the "UK's real Chinatown".

Supporters of the Save Oriental City campaign says that the Chinese community has not been sufficiently involved in the planning process.

The Oriental City Tenants' Association (OCTA) and representatives of Development Securities and RPS Planning met at the site off Edgware Road.

They discussed relocating businesses during the re-building and the involvement of the tenants in the planning process.

OCTA co-ordinator Jabez Lam was the leader of the Save Chinatown Campaign in 2004 and was recruited by the tenants of Oriental City.

Mr Lam said: " We have had a very constructive meeting and have identified two potential difficulties that we need to overcome.

"They are on consultation and the relocation of the tenants, both temporaryily and permanently.

"We, the tenants, are determined to work with Brent Council and the developers to overcome these difficulties and to address them to the satisfaction of all parties."

Yip Fai Liu, chairman of OTCA and managing director of the China City group, which has three restaurants and bars at Oriental City, said: "Oriental City is a monument for the Far East and a unique place in the UK for Far Eastern people.

"10,000 people use this centre and we have 800 skilled workers here."

Martin Spanswick, who has owned a shop in the centre for nine years, said: "Our main concerns are the relocation that we have been offered.

"What is on offer at the moment is virtually a shell so we will all have the expense of fitting out our units.

"We are not sure what kind of parking facilities will be available to our customers or if there is going to be enough advertising to let people know where we have relocated."

Laurence Martin, development director of the Oriental City project, said in response: "We feel we have consulted more than sufficiently over the last four years in hosting numerous public consultations and consulting the tenants.

"We are not legally bound to relocate the tenants but we are doing it to assist them.

"We have located another building for them but are not going to put down a payment until we have secured planning permission.

"Oriental City is at the heart of the new development.

"It is a fantastic concept, a fantastic element of the community, of not just north west London, but London as a whole."

The centre is just inside the borough of Brent but on the border with Barnet, so although the planning application has been submitted to Brent Council, Barnet Council is being consulted on the scheme too.

Barnet has the largest number of Chinese residents of any London borough.

A spokeswoman for Brent Council said: "The racial equality assessment has been carried out as part of the council's unitary development plan, in line with the Mayor of London's London Plan requirements.

"Extensive consultation has been carried out and the sub-tenants of Oriental City are still being consulted and their views are being taken into consideration."

Mr Martin added: "Oriental City is at the heart of the new development.

"We are looking forward to seeing a bigger and better Oriental City."

jmahadevan@london.newsquest.co.uk