Hundreds of people have given the thumbs up to plans for the future of Stafford town centre, the borough council has said, and proposals for a new market hall have proved a particular hit.

Stafford Borough Council revealed its blueprint for the redevelopment of town centre sites including the former Guildhall Shopping Centre and Co-op Department store earlier this year, and the results of a public consultation are now being considered.

Up to 200 new homes, more than 3,000 square metres of commercial space and 6,000 square metres of education space are proposed in the Stafford Town Centre Development Framework.

The spaces set for redevelopment have all been purchased by the authority, using £14.3m from the Government's Future High Streets Fund, and groundwork undertaken by the council has helped spark interest from potential developers who are keen to invest in the area.

During August and September, the council held drop-in events for businesses at St Mary's Church and residents and town centre visitors at a vacant unit at the front of the former Guildhall Shopping Centre.

Attendees were encouraged to share their views on what they liked about Stafford and what they thought the town needed.

Speaking at this month's Economic Development and Planning Scrutiny Committee meeting (6 October), Michelle Smith, the council's economic growth and strategic partnership manager, said: "People were telling us they had come into town specifically to talk about these plans, which was brilliant and exactly what we wanted.

"Anyone who wants to suggest that people have lost interest in what is happening in the town centre, that is absolutely not true.

"On four out of five occasions, we turned up 15 minutes early to get the shutter rolled up and there was a queue waiting for us, people were that keen.

"We overran on most of the session because it was a constant flow the whole time we were there; in total we had about 510 people, but it could well have been higher.

"The vast majority of people were in support of what the council are trying to achieve on these sites.

"Almost unanimously they were in support of the college expansion, earmarking land at the former Wilko site specifically for the growth of the college.

"There were some people that had some issues – of course you are going to have people who have concerns.

"But the principle of what we are trying to do, bringing people back into the town centre, using residential as a way to generate footfall to support the fantastic independent businesses we've got, there was no real sense that people are trying to get back to the 80s and 90s when big retailers ruled the roost.

"There was a real acceptance that the world has moved on, they don't want to be in town centres and if you try and go back to that, you won't move forwards.

"The market hall proposal was everybody's favourite key focal point, partly because there is a real fondness for the original St John's Market.

"We had some brilliant stories from people that remembered it, who are in their 70s and 80s.

"It wasn't just about where you where you could go to buy anything you wanted, it was a social hub, this is where you saw your friends and the town was vibrant as a result.

"There was also a recognition that it's not just going to be a like-for-like indoor market, it almost needs to be market plus where you have your food and drink offer and you also have space for entertainment and 'competitive socialising' (interactive games such as darts and shuffleboard)."

Councillors were told that potential town centre residents were already asking to put their names forward for apartments proposed as part of the redevelopment.

They were not just young people, but older people who liked the idea of a living in a town centre with accessible facilities.

Ms Smith said: "Car parking and toilets came up time and time again.

"A lot of issues were perception-based; the perception is there is nothing in the town, which is clearly not true.

"A big part of what we're doing is getting under the skin of what those perceptions are.

"There's a difference between trying to fix an actual problem and trying to fix a perception there is a problem.

"Public toilets is a really emotive issue – we've made a commitment we will look at new, improved toilets in the new development.

"Because we can't point and say 'they will be there' at the moment, people are around that, but there is a commitment there.

"Timeframes was another thing, people were asking 'when are you going to do it?'.

"So many people were saying to us, people who are in their 60s, 'I'll be dead before you've done this'.

"We said this is not a 10 or 20-year plan, this is what we're working on now.

"What we can't say, until we know who the developers are, is the exact timeframe.

"With the market hall we have a general idea of how long it should take to build something like that.

"It's about finding the developer, getting planning permission and getting on site.

"With the residential, it very much depends on whether you've got one developer doing everything or two or three developers.

"Then you're looking at whether they all want to develop at the same time, do we want it all developed at the same time.

"People were thinking 'you've done your plan, now you are going to sit on it'.

"The overriding message is we need to keep going and show what we are doing."

The council is planning to use hoardings installed around the future development sites to display information about the proposals.

It is also looking to secure development partners to take the plans forward.

At Thursday's cabinet meeting (14 October), members agreed the governance arrangements for the town centre regeneration project.

Cllr Ant Reid, cabinet member for economic development and planning, said: "The most important tier to me is community and advisory, which allows local residents, ward members, local businesses to find out what's going on and be consulted and informed as appropriate throughout the project."

Deputy leader Rob Kenney said: "This is a first step in starting the town centre regeneration. We need the governance to start the procedure."