WORK on Maidstone's new multi-million pound Fremlin Walk shopping centre will begin in March and is expected to take two years.

Director of development services, Trevor Gasson, said: "It is a very self-contained site. While people will know what is going on it won't actually disrupt people getting access to shops and things."

The first stage of the development will be to build two new road junctions at the bottom of St Faith's Street and Earl Street on Fairmeadow.

This is expected to take about five months and will allow vehicle access to the development site ahead of the permanent closure of Museum Street.

About 50 car parking spaces will be lost in the new year when the council's two pay and display car parks within the Fremlin's site close. The waterside car park at the bottom of St Faith's Street will remain open during the building process and a new 800-space car park will open when Fremlin Walk is completed.

According to Mr Gasson, the council has received no significant objections to the development. He says business owners with properties on the Fremlin Walk site have known about the development for several years and will be moving out early in the new year.

He said: "You are always going to find somebody who doesn't want change but anyone who is interesting in the vitality of Maidstone is in favour of it.

"If it didn't happen, Maidstone would not be able to hold its own."

Shops in Week Street and Earl Street will be largely unaffected by the building work, according to the council.

The only significant disruption will be for customers in the Army and Navy store, which will have to be cut in half mid way through the development process.

The House of Fraser store will trade at half its original size for a year before moving in to a large new department store in the Fremlin Walk shopping centre when it opens in 2003.