PEOPLE are being reassured they will have time to make their views known on the plan for a new Sainsbury’s store in Salisbury.

Concerns had been raised that the end date for public consultation on the planning application was today, while a resident dropin session with the developers is tomorrow.

But the council and the developer has said people can still submit letters to Wiltshire Council on the application right up to its consideration by the southern area planning committee as well as registering to speak at the committee meeting.

A spokesman for the council said: “There is an official date for the end of the consultation but letters sent in will still be considered.

They will not be ignored.”

The multi-million pound Gateway project is for a new supermarket in Southampton Road, along with an eight-pump petrol station, parking and landscaping, creating 400 jobs.

A corridor of land closest to the rivers Avon and Bourne, equating to 50 per cent of the site, is earmarked for a sustainable wetlands area which will be used to control, treat and store water on the site before it is returned to the river system.

This proposed larger supermarket would be in addition to Sainsbury’s long-standing smaller store in The Maltings.

Concerns have been raised by people in the city about flooding and traffic problems in the area, and have called for Sainsbury’s to consider applying for a store on the other side of the city instead.

But the developers say the project will not increase the risk of flooding and will ease traffic congestion on Southampton Road by adding a fourth exit at the Bourne Way roundabout along with a slip road from the Alderbury direction.

They maintain there is no other land available to them for a new store and they want to go head to head with Tesco, which has a supermarket on the opposite side of the road.

A resident drop-in session will be held tomorrow, from 10am to 7.30pm, and Saturday, from 10am to 2.30pm, at the Red Lion Hotel in Milford Street where the plans will be on display.

The application will go before the southern area planning committee at a date to be confirmed.

The application number is 14/03690/FUL and the plans can be viewed on the council’s website.