WORK has begun at the site of a proposed superstore in Bishop's Waltham after years of controversy – but doubt lingers over the scheme after supermarket bosses announced a cull of new developments.

Sainsbury's revealed this month that it is dropping 40 planned supermarkets as sales drop and more cash is poured into smaller convenience branches. The retail giant said schemes which are “unlikely to achieve an appropriate return on capital” have been pulled.

But it has frustrated residents and councillors by refusing to confirm whether the long-touted Bishop's Waltham store is among them.

Diggers moved onto the Abbey Mill site last week (Nov 20) to build a two-metre-high perimeter fence protecting Sainsbury's' planning permission.

It comes more than half a decade after the plans first sparked debate on whether a major supermarket would help or hurt the town.

Anti-Sainsbury's campaigners said a national chain would wreck the town's high street and independent businesses, while supporters hailed the store as a victory for consumer choice and disabled shoppers who cannot travel.

Hampshire Chronicle:

Diggers build a perimeter fence at the Abbey Mill site

The future of the project is thought to have been decided internally. Civic chiefs and campaigners on both sides are frustrated by the public uncertainty, which also raises questions about how the town's GP service will cope with a rising population and large house-building programme over the next two decades.

Sainsbury's was set to fund a new £1.6 million GP's surgery next to the store as part of the scheme, easing pressure on the current practice.

Ward councillor David McLean said he is “furious” with the supermarket's silence.

“It's pathetic that they're not keeping us in the loop,” he said. “We're in a day where people are meant to communicate with each other, and they're not. The speculation will be rife.”

Eric Birbeck, of the pro-Sainsbury's Bishop's Waltham Alternative View group, said: “It's very frustrating. The longer you get that [silence] the longer you begin to believe the worst.

“It's a sort of ill feeling that you have. We would still welcome the store with open arms.”

A Sainsbury's spokesman said: “In light of the recently announced strategic review, which confirmed that eight new supermarkets will be developed over the next three years, we are in the process of reviewing all of our schemes. Once this review is complete we will be able to provide an update on our plans for Bishop's Waltham.”