Claymore’s proposed retail park for Leighton has been approved by Central Beds Council’s development control committee this afternoon.
In the vote, 13 councillors were in favour, with four against, and one abstention.
The debate is now turning to a rival scheme from developers Barwood, before a second vote takes place later this afternoon.
The meeting at Chicksands saw a strong turn-out from the public who watched on as the rival developers presented their cases to build their retail park in Leighton.
In a report to the committee, planners had recommended approval for both schemes, but admitted there might not be enough demand for both retail parks in Grovebury Road and, if both are built, one might end up vacant.
Neither scheme, by rival developers Claymore and Barwood, include a DIY anchor unit of comparable size to the town’s existing Homebase - but they may not be moving as Tesco has yet to announce any start date for its expansion.
Friends of the Earth organised a campaign against the plans and protested at the council offices ahead of the meeting in a last ditch attempt at halting the proposals.
See our reporter’s live updates on twitter from the meeting @LBOamanda and @LBOnews.
And see this website for further updates and also next week’s LBO for an in-depth report.