Developers have kept alive the prospect of Tesco building a new store in Whittlesey after winning approval for 16 changes to the original proposals first approved nearly five years ago.

Harrier Developments of Manea were given permission just before Christmas for changes to the supermarket they hope still to build on behalf of Tesco on the Benwick Road industrial estate.

Liz Dent of ICIS Consulting, the agents for Harrier, said the alterations were needed to meet “the tenant’s environmental design standards and energy performance efficiency”.

The modifications agreed by Fenland Council include lowering the roof, relocation of the entrance lobby, relocation of the ATM machine, reduction in size of one of the Tesco signs, and a spiral staircase to the service yard.

Rearrangements to the cycle store, an increased height of the front canopy and landscaping changes are among the other alterations agreed.

Planners agreed the changes “do not result in any significant changes to the external details” and have no overall impact on the design of the overall development.

Of the original objections to the store, planners say none of these “would be compromised by the proposed minor amendment”.

Whether the store gets built remains open to speculation: Sainsbury’s re submitted their own plans for a store in Eastrea Road late last year after beating off Harrier’s rival bid for the same area.

Harrier has said it would have preferred to build in Eastrea Road but insist their original permission for Benwick Road still holds and a supermarket there would get built.