A PLAN to enlarge the Tesco supermarket in Hook has been withdrawn.

Bosses had indicated they wanted to build a new 30,000sq ft store on the site of its current supermarket in Station Road, and the industrial land that borders it.

Tesco said that the new store would create new jobs in the village and offer a wider range of produce.

But Tesco has now withdrawn its application to Hart District Council. The move came a week after Hart published a retail assessment report it had commissioned.

This concluded there was “far from sufficient convenience goods expenditure” in Hook to support a new Tesco store and a proposed new Sainsbury’s store.

Sainsbury’s applied last year to build a 30,000sq ft store at the corner of London Road and Griffin Way North, to the north east of the village, on land near where more than 500 homes are earmarked.

Despite more than 130 letters of objection from villagers, the district council approved the Sainsbury’s plan, subject to approval from Eric Pickles MP, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.

Mr Pickles did not “call in” the application – meaning the application will stand.