COMPULSORY purchase orders (CPOs) to buy land for one of Hampshire’s biggest developments will be served within days.

It has also emerged that the £135m scheme in Winchester may also include a six-screen cinema.

Developers Henderson Global Investors told city business leaders that the cinema would boost footfall to the Silver Hill scheme.

Martin Perry, Henderson’s director of retail development, told members of the Winchester Business Improvement District: “The compulsory purchase order is there fundamentally to stop someone from preventing the scheme happening and saying ‘you’re not going to take my land away whatever happens’.”

Rival firm London and Henley has already said that it will resist the purchase of the Kings Walk shopping arcade.

The meeting heard that Marks & Spencer would also fight to keep Woolstaplers Hall, which it uses for storage.

It is thought that Sainsbury’s will also oppose the sale of its branch in Middle Brook Street.

Mr Perry said that Henderson’s hoped to agree as many deals with landowners as possible without compulsory purchase orders.

A public inquiry will be needed – probably next year – to settle all the outstanding disputes, the meeting heard.

Council chiefs will serve CPOs on Henderson’s behalf within the next few days to all landowners yet to agree a deal.

Mr Perry added that they would keep the designs by architects Allies and Morrison, which already have planning permission, but changes might be needed.

They could convert one of the buildings in the plans into a six-screen cinema – for which planning permission would probably be needed – as cinemas had boosted footfall in other city centre revamps.

The Silver Hill plan includes more than 200 homes, about 500 parking spaces and a replacement bus station.

It would also provide 95,000 sq ft of retail space – roughly the size of a football pitch – between The Broadway and Friarsgate.