A decision was due to be made on the plans at a meeting yesterday, however, planning chiefs ended up cancelling it as papers had not been issued to members early enough.

The plans are now set to be discussed at the next meeting of the planning board on November 3 and officers will recommend their approval.

The owners of the shopping centre want to knock down the part of the building that goes beneath the A78 main road, right back along to the existing entrance at Clyde Square, with the current tenants being offered space within the scaled-down centre.

The owners then wish to create a new glazed entrance to the truncated section – similar to the one at Dalrymple Street – and form a paved area to link it with Hunters Place.

Beyond this, there are plans to landscape the area to the east of High Street which will eventually become home to 119 one and two-bedroom flats, The Herald reports.

The new entrance and the flats are to be connected by a new A78 underpass.

The flats would be spread across a five-storey block to the rear of the library and a six-storey tower to the west of Hector Mcneil House.

If approved, a community hub will be incorporated into the ground floor of the five-storey building.

In 2019, a previous proposal to bulldoze part of the mall was refused due to a lack of certainty surrounding the future use of the prominent gap site that would be created.

However, now the fresh application includes plans for landscaping and flats, council chiefs have said the development will give a more “positive image”.