Sainsbury’s has moved to reassure people in Angus that it is still considering building a Montrose store.
The retailer announced last week that it had pulled the plug on investing in a store in Perth, after questioning the city’s road infrastructure but a spokesman for the company said it was still looking at creating a store on Brechin Road opposite Lidl.
Planning permission for the £10 million Montrose store was granted in August 2011 when councillors went against their officers’ recommendation to refuse permission on the grounds of insufficient parking.
Construction was due to start in February 2012 but, more than two years later, work is still to get under way.
The spokesman said: “Montrose remains a town that we are interested in.
“The economic and retail climate in recent years has made the developments of food stores harder than it was before.
“However, we continually review our potential development sites as we put together our construction programme and hope that we will be able to bring forward the development of the site in Montrose in the near future.”
Councillor Mark Salmond said he was delighted after he revealed that correspondence he received from the company’s chief executive last year indicated that the store would not be built.
He said: “I am delighted at the positive message that’s now coming out ofSainsbury’s because correspondence I had with the previous chief executive, Justin King, indicated that they weren’t proceeding because of their capital plan.
“We’ve got a site sitting here that is one of the gateways to the town, which occasionally turns into an eyesore. They have tidied it up as we have complained.
“The public of the town were very supportive to the supermarket through its planning application process and it is very disappointing that the store has not become a reality yet.
“One of the reasons there was such a high approval rate is because people are looking for more competition in the supermarket sector in the town.
“They feel that Tesco has a dominance in the town and that might be reflected in their pricing.”
Mr Salmond said he would write to the company’s new chief executive, Mike Coupe, to ask for firm construction dates.
“I would still look for Sainsbury’s to give us a realistic timetable,” he added.
“The public of Montrose have been very patient with this project because it’s been on and off and on and off.
“We really need to get some concrete dates from them on when this store is going to become a reality.”
The 22,500 square foot store, which would be the first Sainsbury’s in Angus, was expected to provide around 200 jobs.
The initial timetable had the store to be completed in the autumn of 2012 but problems finalising legal issues at the site was given as the reason the work was delayed.