A ROW that has split Tenbury will carry on into the New Year.

This follows the postponement for the second time of a crucial meeting to determine a plan submitted by retail giant Tesco to build a supermarket in the town.

Planners at Malvern Hills District Council were originally holding the meeting at Tenbury High School this week but this was then put back until December.

Now Councillor Tony Penn, who represents Tenbury on Malvern Hills District Council, has announced that the decision will not be made until January at the earliest.

The application to build the store on the former cattle market site has split the town since it was first submitted in May last year.

A first plan was withdrawn and a second proposal rejected by planners almost a year ago.

But a third alternative had won the backing of Tenbury Town Council, which initially opposed the application but did a U-turn a fortnight later amidst alle gations of intimidation by a small but vociferous g roup of anti-Tesco campaigners.

And intimidation was cited as the reason for Tenbury councillors voting in secret at their first meeting to discuss the latest scheme.

Ongoing discussions between planning officers and representatives from Tesco are the reason for the latest delay with issues on the table including traffic within the site and aspects of the design of the proposed building.

Even supporters of the supermarket may not be unhappy about a delay as people in the town including a number of councillors are concerned about construction work at the same time that the Teme Bridge is closed for repair in the early months of 2012.

However, if they get permission, Tesco is known to be keen to press ahead with a schedule to have the store open in time for Christmas next year.

But Coun Penn believes that the postponement of the planning meeting is right.

“This is a crucially important issue for Tenbury and it is important that any outstanding matters are clarified before a decision is made,” he said.

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