Bosses behind plans for a new supermarket in Whitchurch say the scheme will give the town an economic boost.

Sainsbury’s has unveiled plans for a store off London Road, near the town centre, which would create up to 250 jobs. Company officials say the scheme could take up to two years before it is complete.

They say they were surprised and overwhelmed by the response of the public and welcomed the large amount of support for proposals.

Plans, in conjunction with Terrace Hill Group Plc, are for a 30,000sq ft supermarket, 300-space car park and customer restaurant.

Duncan McEwan, development director of Terrace Hill, said: “We have had a very positive response from members of the public and town councillors which is fantastic.”

Mr McEwan added: “They seem to share our views that the new store would provide a big boost to the town, in terms of jobs and business.

“The big problem with Whitchurch is that a large amount of people leave the town to do their shopping because there isn’t the choice.

“We hope this will stop if we are successful with these proposals.

“Of course we expect there to be some traders in the town centre worried about the competition, but we don’t want to take business away from them.

“Instead we think we can encourage people to use the town more to do their shopping.”

He added one of the suggestions from residents was for there to be a new petrol station incorporated as part of the scheme, but said this was unlikely because of a lack of room on the site.

Stephen Last, of the Sainsbury’s project team, said: “Plans are not set in stone at the moment.

“We will take away people’s views, sit down and discuss them, before hopefully putting a planning application in before the end of the year.

“If all goes well we hope to have approval by the spring and hopefully start construction by the end of 2011, start of 2012.

“In total a project like this could take two years to complete.”