A TESCO store for Ramsey came a step nearer on Monday night when the development control committee of Huntingdonshire District Council recommended it should go ahead. The store would be on land at the corner of Stocking Fen Road and St Mary s Road. The de

A TESCO store for Ramsey came a step nearer on Monday night when the development control committee of Huntingdonshire District Council recommended it should go ahead.

The store would be on land at the corner of Stocking Fen Road and St Mary's Road.

The decision will go to a full meeting of the district council and then have to be approved by the Government Office for the East of England.

The proposal is for a food store and petrol station. Tesco would have to help provide resources for a community centre and some affordable homes.

Tesco would also make a contribution of £100,000 towards the cost of extending a bus link between the town centre and the store, and put £48,000 towards road improvements. The planners also want a community centre to include a hall, kitchen, lavatories, office space and outdoor facilities.

The agreement is that 29 per cent of the homes built on the site would be affordable by families who cannot afford commercial rents. Tesco would be required to provide and maintain play areas and to contribute to improving moorings along the High Lode.

Planners will also seek a £20,000 contribution for a new library and £485 per dwelling for extra healthcare facilities. The scheme is at the heart of a revival of the town's "Northern Gateway" on the High Lode and St Mary's Road and includes a new roundabout and a footbridge across the High Lode.

Planners are hoping that the supermarket will encourage other businesses to open in Ramsey, bringing jobs to the area. The next stage in the decision process will be when the full district council meets on Wednesday, December 5.

* TWO separate proposals for flats were turned down by the committee on Monday, on the grounds of their design and size.

The Luminus Group application, which had been recommended for approval, was for 22 flats and two houses, a public library and lavatories on the site of the Ramsey Grand Cinema on Great Whyte. A second proposal, unconnected with Luminus, was for 12 flats on land at Old Station Road, Ramsey.

However, another application to build two flats over the post office in Whytefield Road was approved.