Stretton Estates has applied for planning permission to create the restaurant, a food store and five smaller shops at the site of the old Wakefield Power Station.

The retail centre would form part of the planned £0.5bn City Fields masterplan to construct 2,500 homes, retail and leisure facilities, business space, a primary school and waterside area along the Aire and Calder Navigation to the East of the city.

It would sit in the Southern Gateway of the wider development, alongside 334 homes, which received planning approval in February.

Documents submitted to the council state: “The development of the site would represent a significant economic benefit to the locality, creating a significant number of jobs in construction and operational phases, in addition to the additional residents and subsequent increased expenditure within the locality.”

The retail centre would be accessed from the new £33m Wakefield Eastern Relief Road, linking the A642 Aberford Road and A638 Doncaster Road.

The 5.5km long road, which opened last month, was designed to unlock land for the City Fields development, which is expected to bring 3,200 long term jobs as well as construction employment.

Coun Peter Box, leader of Wakefield Council, said: “The Wakefield Eastern Relief Road is one of the biggest and most ambitious projects that this district has seen for decades and is a huge achievement for Wakefield.

“The new road will help to reduce traffic congestion in and around the city, improve local transport links and provide access to land for future development.

“It will help to create thousands of new jobs and supporting economic growth in our district for many years to come.”

Work is already underway on some of the City Fields development, which is expected to take up to 20 years to complete.

Miller Homes and Bellway began construction on 329 new homes for the northern end of the site in October 2016. And 73 have already been released for sale.

Outline planning permission has been granted for a further 171 houses around the same area.

And a new retail and leisure facility is also proposed for this end of the development and would include shops and community space.

Keyland were granted permission in October 2016 for a Waterside Park Business Hub to feature employment space, a pub and diner and drive-thru facility.