PLANS to extend Darlington's main Safeway store into a hypermarket have been put on hold.
There was outcry among town centre shops after the supermarket chain applied for permission to extend its Victoria Road store by more than 2,000 sq m towards South Terrace.
Retailers feared the extension would harm town centre trade.
Planning officers at Darlington Borough Council recommended refusal of the application, at a planning meeting yesterday.
But after talks with the supermarket's agents at the end of last week, planning officers said they wanted to put the plans on hold to research imposing a condition that would mean Safeway would be limited in the goods it could sell.
Objections to the plan have been received from a local resident, the Council for the Protection of Rural England and the Boots Company.
Councillor Gordon Plummer told the meeting: "We should defer the application until we have a full and proper report, and can discuss things properly and without prejudice, making it absolutely clear to the store that this is without prejudice."
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