A North Tyneside shopping centre could be overhauled to make it more "vibrant" due to a lack of footfall.
The Forum Shopping Centre in Wallsend wants to create a "high-street feel" and demolish the first floor of the multi-storey car park and vacant retail units.
NewRiver Retail Ltd will see a loss of 111 spaces in the first floor car park - which is rarely running at capacity.
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Instead, the ground floor car park will be reconfigured, creating 66 spaces as well as 12 cycling spaces.
A new frontage has been proposed on the western facade to create a "high-street feel" which will be more welcoming for customers. There are also plans to install two new entrances to the shopping centre.
The proposals are also set to "improve the visual and physical linkage between the Aldi, Burger King and the soon-to-open Medical Centre". In addition, the car parking demolition hopes to reduce employee reliance on private car use in favour of cheaper and more sustainable modes of transport.
Some of the demolished retail space could be converted into 45 additional car parking spaces and a public area.
A report into the proposals by KLR Planning, on behalf of NewRiver Retail, said: "While overall the car parking numbers will be reduced, the parking accumulation of the two storey car park shows it is not operating at capacity and a reduction is not considered an issue.
"The loss of retail floorspace will not have an adverse impact on the shopping centre or the town centre. There is an over-supply of space against occupier demand resulting in vacant units. The reduction will improve the shopping centre, as occupied units create a vital and vibrant centre, and installation of new shop frontages to some of the units adds a level of external activity to attract more visitors."
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At the time of writing, a date has not yet been set for the application to be presented to councillors.
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