SUPERMARKET giant Tesco has submitted a planning application for a new store in Ledbury - but Herefordshire Council needs more information before the plan can be officially registered and put out for consultation.

This week Tesco confirmed that the application has been submitted, and Herefordshire Council said it has received it.

But planning officer Roland Close said: "There are certain technical issues about information an applicant has to provide before an application can be deemed valid and registered, and so far Tesco has not supplied all that information."

Tesco proposes to build the new superstore on the Lower Road Trading Estate, on the site currently occupied by Ledbury Welding.

It says that the development, if allowed, will create 75 new jobs, as well as safeguarding the 125 jobs at the existing shop in the Homend, which will be closed.

Opponents fear that the proposed new store will harm town-centre traders, causing shops to close and jobs to be lost.

Annette Crowe of the Ledbury Opposes Tesco Superstore (LOTS) group said that the delay in validating the planning application was not unwelcome.

She said: "In a way, the longer it takes, the better it is for us, because it gives us more time to organise and raise funds to oppose the plan.

"If it could be delayed long enough, the nearer it would be to the Localism Bill, which promises to put more power into the hands of local communities.

"For too long, decisions about Ledbury have been made by people from outside Ledbury, sometimes who have never visited Ledbury, and we want that to change."

Tesco's next round of consultation will start next week. A display showing the proposals will be set up in the existing store and staff will be on hand to hear people's views. When the display is unstaffed, there will be contact details available.