TESCO has reduced by nearly 20 per cent the size of its proposed new superstore on the outskirts of Wisbech.

It has told Fenland District Council it no longer wants 7,000 sq m of store space for which it has permission but wants to reduce this to 5,741 sq m.

Despite having begun work on the £50m Cromwell Road complex, the company says will put in a fresh application to use the remaining space for what it has termed a “concession area”.

This will, says Tesco, allow them to accommodate “any alternative use, other than as a food store. Prior to this the area will be kept as a void.”

The revised application means numerous other changes to the Tesco scheme including repositioning of the front atrium and an overall reduction in height of 1500mm.

The proposals have knock on affects across the site – including the cinema and three proposed restaurants- but Tesco’s applications show these to be minor amendments.

There will be a reduction in car parking spaces from 870 to 748 “to meet Tesco’s latest standards and reduced floor space” and the eight pump filling station reduced to six.

Tesco says the area they plan to leave as a “void” will be subject to later planning applications.

The company says the changes are “largely cosmetic and operational” and resembles the scheme previously approved.