Plans to install new doors in a shopping centre are still expected to go ahead, according to the general manager of intu Watford.

In January 2019, intu was granted permission for new automatic doors in Queens Road.

Existing doors that shoppers push through near Primark will be removed, and instead doors will go in Queens Road itself.

The new junction will become an enclosed space within intu Watford.

The plans will mean cyclists will no longer be able to ride freely in Queens Road from the High Street to The Broadway.

Instead, they will have to dismount and walk through the new doors, although cyclists should be dismounting already.

Shoppers will still be able to leave intu and go into Queens Road.

Harrow Times:

The plans will see doors go in where this opening is in Queens Road and doors will also go in at the far end

More than a year has passed since Watford Borough Council gave intu the green light.

In a recent Facebook live chat held between the mayor of Watford, Peter Taylor, and intu general manager Vicki Costello, Ms Costello was asked what the latest was on the project.

Ms Costello said: "We were just going through the process, we were finalising the process because there's an awful lot of form-filling. All of that process was going through and then of course, the pandemic came so we've not been able to do anything at the moment.

"I think once we get back again to some more normality, we'll pick that one up again. Unfortunately we've just not been able to progress due to everything that has been happening. It is still our intention though.

"I know there was an awful lot of consultation done on this. The environment in that part of town isn't the nicest perhaps. There's an awful lot of crossing and there's been a huge amount of accidents down there actually. A lot of people have been knocked over by bicycles and it's an area of gathering for some anti-social behaviour in the past.

"We've got this beautiful new centre, all newly refurbished. This is the last piece of the jigsaw to do really."

Harrow Times:

The new doors in Queens Road will be automatic and fully glazed. They will open when people walk towards them, during intu opening hours.

When intu is shut, the doors will be fixed open. Shutters will be pulled down where the existing doors are to prevent access into the shopping centre.

When completed, intu shoppers will be freely able to walk from one side of the shopping centre to the other, but cyclists will have to dismount, and walk through at the crossroads.

The approved plans also include putting signage in the intu centre directing people towards The Broadway shops, constructing a shopping directory for The Broadway by the nearby fly-over, creating a small children’s play area and improving the landscaping between intu and the fly-over.