Sainsbury’s have confirmed they will not be coming to Cross Hands.

Rumours have been circulating for some time that the supermarket had pulled out and today a spokesperson confirmed the £60 million development will not be going ahead.

A statement from the supermarket said, “Following an internal review we have decided we are unable to proceed with plans to develop our proposed new store in Cross Hands.

“This decision has taken some time to reach and has not been made lightly, however in the period since our proposals were first announced, the food retail market and customer shopping patterns have changed considerably.

“As part of an ongoing review of all new supermarket schemes, we’ve concluded that a viable scheme can no longer be delivered.

“Following our review we have sold our land holdings to The Conygar Investment Company PLC who will be looking to bring forward a mixed retail scheme on the site.

“We recognise that this news will be disappointing to you, and will continue to look for new opportunities to bring forward other stores such as convenience in the local area.”

The news comes after developer Conygar Investment Company confirmed they have purchased the site.

Planning persmission is already in place for a 90,792 gross square foot food store with a six pump petrol filling station and 495 car parking spaces.

However Conygar have confirmed they are working towards submitting a revised planning application.

Robert Ware, CEO of Conygar said in a statement, "We are well aware of the constraints and the time it takes in the current planning framework in order to gain consents of this size and then to put in place all the necessary enabling infrastructure so to acquire as it were an "oven ready" development site is we believe an attractive proposition.

We have already identified occupier demand for a mixed retail scheme which we will now pursue and work towards submitting a revised planning application as soon as possible."