Cupar councillor Margaret Kennedy has called for a “little bit of honesty” from Tesco over their promise to build a new store in the town.
It came as North East Fife MP Sir Menzies Campbell wrote a letter to the chief executive of Tesco highlighting the “sense of frustration” at the apparent lack of progress.
It emerged three weeks ago that Tesco had started work on a service road to the new site but had no intention of building the new supermarket and creating up to 250 jobs in the foreseeable future.
North East Fife MSP Roderick Campbell has also told the firm there can be “no more excuses or delays” in implementing its plans.
Mrs Kennedy told The Courier: “I have had a conversation with Alistair Hamilton in planning (at Fife Council) who has advised me that the present works are of such a standard that, along with them complying with pre development conditions, they have enacted their planning consent.
“This, therefore, means that their permission is now in perpetuity. I am not surprised by this confirmation from planning officials.
“However, I am furious with Tesco in that they appear to be saying we don’t care a jot about the town, we just want to hold on to the land whatever way we can.
“When I spoke with a member of Tesco management they used language such as “the road will make it easier when we come to build” there is a world of difference between those words and what planning has confirmed.
“We need to have an answer from Tesco as to what their building timescale is. A little bit of honesty would go a long way to understanding just what their intentions are.
“Cupar at present is prevented from considering any other retail expansion or development as it would be viewed as over-provision.”
Tesco has described its work on the service road as preparatory works and indicated that there was no timescale for the new store.
It is understood that the final plans for the store show a reduced floor area when compared to the original proposals.