A NEW supermarket is aiming to bring ‘competition, choice and 400 jobs’ to a new development site in Weymouth.

Retail giant Sainbury’s is holding a two-day public consultation on Friday and Saturday to show their plans for a new 42,000sqft store at the New Look site on Mercery Road.

Earlier this month proposals were lodged with Weymouth and Portland Borough Council for a masterplan called the Weymouth Gateway that could see the site totally redeveloped by 2014.

A date has yet to be set for the plans to go before the borough council’s planning committee.

Ben Littman, development surveyor responsible for new Sainbury’s stores in the south west, said the company had received very positive feedback on their plans for a new store so far.

He said: “People have said there is a need for another food store in the town. I hope the consultation will be very positive.

“We are asking people to comment on the plans very early for a store two years away, but we would love to get people’s comments and it’s an opportunity for them to tell us what their needs are and what they want in their store.

“It will give us a chance to tailor the store for the local people of Weymouth. It’s about bringing people quality food, it’s what we do. It’s about giving greater choice and competition and it will improve the shopping experience for people in Weymouth.

“Morrisons and Asda will be looking to up their game because they will be looking to keep their customers. The customer can only benefit. We will be competing to get people to shop with us and Morrisons and Asda will do the same.

“We will be the biggest store in Weymouth at 42,000sqft.”

If plans go ahead the store will bring 400 full and part-time jobs to the town.

Mr Littman said that Sainsbury’s would be looking to take on local people to build the store and work in it when it opens. The retailer is also looking to use locally-sourced materials, including Portland stone, to make sure the building is in keeping with the local area.

He added: “Normally we will team up with the Job Centre to offer jobs to local people. Having local people work in their local store really improves the experience because local people know the area and know what people in the town want.

“We want to create a building that suits the environment it’s in and that people like.

“We have a lot of consultation to go through and people will no doubt want to give us their comments about what they are going to see.

“We want the new building to be in keeping with the character of the proposed New Look buildings.”

The primary focus of the store will be food, with a fresh neat and fish counter, although others services like a pharmacy could be considered if people wanted one.

* If the project gets the green light from the planning committee Sainsbury’s will go away and start planning what it wants the store to look like and what it wants in it.

There will then be a second public consultation process before detailed plans are submitted to the borough council.

The new Sainsbury’s store will be sited on the current New Look head office site and building will not be able to start until the new retail head office is built.

New Look’s planning bosses have said they hope to have the new office, as well as the planned family restaurant and hotel open in time for the Olympic sailing events in 2012.

Sainsbury’s then want to be able to start work as soon as possible so that the new store can be open in 2013, following a 10-month building programme.

* The public consultation will be held at the Ocean Room in Weymouth Pavilion on Friday, February 18 from 11am to 7.30pm and on Saturday, February 19 from 10am to 2pm.

For more information call Sainsbury’s on 0800 130 3270 or visit sainsburys-weymouth.co.uk