PLANS have been approved to build a Morrisons supermarket in Carterton.

Work on the 40,000sq ft store in Black Bourton Road will now start next year and could be open before Christmas 2013.

West Oxfordshire District Council’s lowlands area planning subcommittee granted planning permission at a meeting yesterday.

The application includes a new 200-space car park and the construction of 10 flats along Butlers Drive.

Morrisons development executive Andrew Birtwistle said: “We are excited about the prospect of delivering something really good for Carterton.”

The supermarket giant will give £168,900 in developer funds, which will pay for projects including relocating the town’s market, planting trees and installing road signs.

Councillor Warwick Robinson said: “This is excellent news. It is what the people of Carterton have been waiting a long, long time to hear.”

Morrisons said it had spent £2m more on the scheme than it would normally on a store of similar size due to protracted negotiations with council officers.