A decision over whether to approve major expansion plans for Sainsbury's Witney store has been deferred for the second time -- after rival supermarkets raised concerns.

The application to provide an extra 2,364sq m trading space at the Witan Way supermarket was put back by West Oxfordshire District councillors because a retail impact assessment had not been completed.

Councillors were expecting a report to be presented by consultants at the lowlands area planning committee meeting on Monday, (May 16) but were told by officers it was not ready. The assessment was commissioned after Waitrose and Somerfield, which operate supermarkets in the town centre, raised concerns over allowing the out-of-town store to expand. They said Sainsbury's had failed to properly demonstrate the impact of the expansion on the town centre's "vitality and viability", and raised fears of a knock-on effect on other stores, claiming trade would be drawn out of town to the larger store.

Sainsbury wants to build a 1,440sqm single-storey extension and use 924sqm of existing shop space currently not used for trading. It would mean a loss of 25 parking spaces and reduction of the store's service yard.