“ The end of the local shops on the High Street began when they allowed Iceland to remove The Salisbury.
Not really, it started when a very large free car park was built over to create the Spires in the first place.
Free car park + independent shops + thriving market = good. Paid car park + generic shops + no market = bad.
The yellow box, it appears, is covered with 'brass shingles' - http://www.bdonline.co.uk/tecu-brass-cladding-shingles/3108858.article - which could be interesting but I fail to see how it 'remains sensitive to the historic context of the high street', since The Spires themselves were retained as a frontage for just that reason, and they would have to go.
The basic problem is the original spires development tried to cram too much in, so it's cramped and uninviting. Opening it up as a street could help, but the the old church spires themselves are very dull (but historic, for a certain value of historic).
Why not cover them in brass shingles ? ”