THREE options for the future of Walthamstow town centre have gone out to public consultation.

The plans, drawn up by the council and the Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment, went on display at Walthamstow Town Hall last Thursday.

They were also on show on Tuesday in Walthamstow town square, and two more publicity events are scheduled, also in the town square, for Friday and Saturday.

The consultation period will finish on April 26.

Each plan offers a different view of how Walthamstow could look in years to come.

Option A, called Walthamstow Reacts, is a projection of what is likely to happen if the town centre continues to develop along its current pattern.

Walthamstow Redevelops, or Option B, shows the effect of a free market-led development of the High Street area.

Only in Option C, Walthamstow Renews, are the foundation's values of promoting mixed-use development and encouraging people to walk and use public transport fully evident.

All three options include a cinema, but the plans variously place it at South Grove, Selborne Walk or the Arcade site.

None of the blueprints includes plans for the former EMD Cinema building. Walthamstow Market is also conspicuously absent.

Under Option A, the Arcade site would still be a mixed-use retail, residential and leisure complex as currently proposed.

But Option B could see it become a more profitable commercial development up to 18-storeys high.

However Option C suggests a cinema for the site, along with a restaurant, bars, and other commercial uses.

Other radical changes suggested under Option C are breaking up Selborne Walk with new streets, and mixing the current shops with residential properties, council offices and a primary school.

An extension to Queens Road station with an entrance in the High Street is also proposed in Option C.

The plans can be seen in full at the town hall, in Walthamstow Library, and on www.walthamforest.gov.uk/walthamstow-consultation.htm THE three options put out to consultation have been likened to a choice between Tony Blair, Idi Amin and Pol Pot.

The analogy was made by Simon Munk, chairman of the Cleveland Park Residents Association, arguing that the consultation exercise is engineered to lead residents into favouring Option C.

At a public meeting two weeks ago, he had warned Hank Dittmar, chief executive of the Prince's Foundation, against such a move. Mr Dittmar acknowledged his concerns.

According to Mr Munk, it is unnecessary to put one obviously preferred option up against two less desirable ones. He said the public would be better served by having three equally attractive options to choose from.

Mr Munk went on: "Tony Blair would get elected if he was up against Idi Amin and Pol Pot.

"That said, there is an awful lot that is good about Option C. A lot of what has been said by the Prince's Foundation is smart stuff."

But he questioned the absence of Walthamstow Market from the blueprints and added: "If the council wants the EMD to be a blank, rotting building for the next 20 years, this is the best way to go about it."

High Street Ward councillor James O'Rourke said: "I'm quite impressed. I didn't think the plans were going to be as diverse as they are."

He praised the suggestion in Option C that a disused bingo hall in Mission Grove could be converted into a community centre.

Cllr Terry Wheeler, the council's cabinet member for enterprise and investment, said the three options were not intended to be taken literally, but to provoke discussion: "People may take a cafeteria approach and pick the bits they like. We are trying not to paint an idealistic picture. We are trying to avoid being descriptive or definitive."

He would not reveal which option was his favourite, and denied that the options were biased in favour of Option C.

THE shortlist of potential buyers for the vacant Arcade site has been announced.

The six shortlisted firms are HBG Properties, Unistar Properties, Modus Southern, Helical Bar, Crest Nicholson Regeneration and St Modwen.

St Modwen have attracted headlines in recent years for their controversial redevelopments of Edmonton Green Market, Enfield, and Queens Market, Newham.

Waltham Forest Council will not provide details of any of the shortlisted submissions, nor explain criteria by which the shortlist was drawn up "due to commercial confidentiality."