A Highland Perthshire community has been dealt a major blow with the confirmation that a proposed supermarket will definitely not be built in the town this year, The Courier can reveal.
Residents have raised concerns that no work has started on Sainsbury’s planned store for Bridge Road, Pitlochry, and the supermarket giant on Friday acknowledged that there is no prospect of the shop opening in the foreseeable future.
Land adjacent to the site of Pitlochry Highland Games has been earmarked for the store, which would be accessible to the A924 Perth Road.
The supermarket was initially scheduled to open in 2012.
In recent years, Sainsbury’s has been taking significant steps to increase its market presence within Perth and Kinross, starting from a single store operating in Kinross.
Plans were approved for a £41 million supermarket on the site of the old Perth mart in Crieff Road that will create around 450 jobs.
Sainsbury’s also opened a satellite store in the city’s High Street last year, along with a similar shop in Blairgowrie.
A spokesman for Sainsbury’s revealed that “small-scale work” will take place over the next few weeks in Pitlochry in order to keep planning consent active, but added that the company is concentrating on development at other locations.
The company received planning permission for the Pitlochry store in December 2010 and this was later rubber-stamped by the Scottish Government.
It was understood the supermarket would create around 200 jobs and it was keenly anticipated in the area.
Sainsbury’s national development surveyor Paul Miller had previously said: “Sainsbury’s are delighted that we have the go-ahead to start work on the store on Bridge Road and deliver the much-awaited new supermarket for residents of Pitlochry and the surrounding area.”
The company spokesperson went on: “Sainsbury’s is continuing to review the construction programme on all its consented sites. As a result, residents in Pitlochry may note the undertaking of small-scale preliminary works on the site in the town over the coming weeks.
“These works will ensure that the existing planning consent remains active and the site can remain in our programme.
“However, we have to make it clear that at this stage we will be unable to build the store this year.”