£30m Asda store headsfor Bognor

The proposed store is planned for the Oldlands Farm site at the top of the A29 Shripney Road close to the roundabout and almost opposite an existing retail park.

The Asda-owned site, said a spokesman on Wednesday '˜had long been identified as a site for a business park'.

But he said that with no-one able to justify the 4.5m infrastructure costs of putting in roads and other services, Asda has pledged to not only take on the costs of the works but also build the first 10,000sq ft business unit to get the plans kick-started.

It will bring a predicted 1,000 jobs to the town for the business unit and a further 500 jobs for Asda, said the spokesman.

A public exhibition is due to take place at the Hotham Arts Centre in the Regis Centre in Belmont Street on November 2 and 3, to allow Bognor residents to have their say on the new proposals.

'The plans are still in their early stages and we are talking about the principle at the moment and are in open discussions with Arun District Council,' continued the spokesman.

Although there is no time frame for the '˜full- size store with a range of departments', the spokesman said that Asda would like to move on with the plans as quickly as possible.

The Asda chain of supermarkets in the UK became a subsidiary of the American retail giant Wal-Mart in 1999, and is the second largest supermarket chain in the UK after Tesco.

Asda has around 260 stores across the country and employs close to 150,000 people.

Other stores in the south include ones at Bedhampton, Fareham, Fratton and Gosport.

Asda was formed in 1965 by a group of farmers from Yorkshire.