SHOPPERS must wait at least a further month before finding out whether they will have another supermarket.

Rossendale Council had hoped to make a decision on Monday about plans for a Tesco superstore in Newhallhey, Rawtenstall, to compete with Asda and Kwik Save.

But the plans, which have been on the table for more than a year, have been further delayed by consultation over details with Tesco and developers Hurstwood, as well as other applicants for shopping extensions in the town.

Car parking and traffic management on the Queen's Square roundabout are among the final details to be sewn up before any decision is made.

Now planners are working towards the end of September for rulings on the Hurstwood scheme which will also include fast food and non-food shops, an extension to Asda, plans to convert an old mill into a shopping mall and the council's own plans for an extension to the Valley Centre.

Chief planning officer Philip Cunliffe said the report on retail development will be the longest ever written by his staff.

It will include the planners' own recommendations on whether any or all of the four schemes should be given the go ahead.

He said public opinion as well as planning regulations would be taken into consideration in the final decisions.

Councillors have not yet decided whether to include the plans in a normal planning committee agenda or, because of their importance and the likely length of discussions, to schedule a special meeting for them.

Representatives of the Chamber of Commerce will lobby councillors before the meeting in a bid to urge them to turn down the Newhallhey scheme which they fear could seriously harm town centre trade.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.