ARCHITECTS working on designs for a new 44,316 sq ft Tesco superstore in Northallerton were yesterday ordered to go back to their drawing boards.

Hambleton planning committee overwhelmingly rejected existing blueprints - criticised for proposing an industrial-style building in the town conservation area - and will await a revised scheme to be submitted to members in January.

Members agreed with planning officers that the present design, involving a flat roof and steel cladding on walls, would be out of place because it failed to reflect and respect the architectural and historical context of its surroundings in East Road.

Architects had asked the committee simply to defer a decision until a revised design, involving a pitched roof, brickwork and other changes, was worked up in an attempt to meet the objections.

An outline of the amended proposals, received only days ago, was given informally to councillors yesterday, but committee chairman Coun Geoff Ellis protested: "I would not expect something of this magnitude to be submitted and considered at this stage. This should have been in a long time ago.''

Mr Steve Quartermain, head of planning services, said architects had left it too late to begin such design negotiations after they had been told from an early stage of the exacting requirements in the sensitive conservation area.

"We have always told them it was important to get it right and they have only just come back with a scheme which begins to point in the right direction. By refusing the existing proposals you will send out a message that this has got to be good and first class.'