A SECOND revised application for a Leominster superstore – turned down in January – is ready to be submitted.

Morbaine Ltd had its original application – for a food store on the current site of Thomas Panels on Southern Avenue – turned down by Herefordshire Council’s planning committee in January.

But last week, they briefed Leominster Town Council on new plans for a store – now 10,000 square feet smaller than the original design.

Alex Brodie, managing director of Morbaine Ltd, said: “We have been away and have been considering those points of refusal. The major thing is the reduction of the store from 45,000 square feet to 35,000 square feet – a reduction of 20 per cent.”

This application, Mr Brodie said, was identical to its predecessor in every other way.

But the issues raised by county planners had been looked at and it was believed that the new, smaller store would now be even less of a threat to the existing town centre.

It would also offer local employment, he added, with 200 full-time and part-time jobs on offer at the superstore as well as more opportunities at Thomas Panels and Profiles.

Trisha Thomas, of Thomas Panels and Profiles, said the new store offered her business an “amazing opportunity”.

It would allow the company to move to a bigger, state-of-the art factory which would mean it could develop its product range.

“It means so much to us as a company and in turn, we think means so much to Leominster,” she said.

The application is set to be officially submitted to Herefordshire Council in the next two weeks. It follows a fresh application from Dale’s which also wants to put a superstore on its Mill Street site.

The two applications were both refused in January – the Dale’s site unanimously – with six councillors voting against the refusal of Morbaine’s plans.