TESCO has been given the green light to expand its store on the outskirts of Thetford.

TESCO has been given the green light to expand its store on the outskirts of Thetford.

The supermarket had applied to Breckland Council for permission to increase its retail and bulk storage area at its store on land off Norwich Road, add a new internet shopping area and put in more car parking spaces.

The extension, which is planned to be on areas currently used for car parking and servicing, will see the store increase its sales area by 37pc to 5,840 square metres. This sales area extension will be used for a mix of food and non-food items.

One hundred and fourteen more car parking spaces will also be created, and changes to the access to the store are also proposed including new roundabouts at the Norwich Road/Kilverstone Lane and the Kilverstone Lane/store entrance junctions.

At Breckland's development control meeting on Monday the committee approved Tesco's plans subject to further clarification about the retail impact on the rest of the Thetford, a section 106 agreement involving a financial contribution towards transport issues, and a number of other conditions.

Michael Fanthorpe said he was concerned about the effect extending Tesco's non-food retail space would have on town centre shops, and a resident living close to the store objected to the plans, saying that noise from vehicles on the Tesco site was a problem and the current use of deciduous trees to screen the store from nearby homes was inadequate.