PUBLIC interest in two proposed supermarkets is so great that a meeting to decide their future has been moved to a larger venue.

Supermarket giants Asda and Morrisons have both applied for planning permission to build new stores in Elland.

Asda wants to realise a long-held dream of creating a store in the town by demolishing various buildings and building a store on land at Dewsbury Road.

Its competitor Morrisons is keen to knock down the existing NuSwift Factory and construct a food store and petrol station on land at Wistons Lane.

Members of Calderdale Council’s Planning Committee will decide whether to permit the applications tomorrow.

These meetings are usually held in Halifax Town Hall.

But there has been so much interest from locals in both planning applications that the council has decided to shift the meeting to the town’s Shay Stadium.

The stadium is the home of Halifax RLFC and Halifax Town football club and the public meeting will be held in the Banqueting Suite.

Richard Seaman, Calderdale Council’s development manager, said that the venue had been chosen to accommodate the anticipated number of people attending the meeting.

He said: “There is a great deal of interest in these two applications and we need to ensure that everyone who wants to hear the Committee’s discussion has the opportunity to do so.”

Asda revealed its plans to build in the town earlier this year.

Three years ago an application by the supermarket was rejected by planning officials, but is has since revised its plans.

The supermarket said the new site, to be built between the bottom of Dewsbury Road and Huddersfield Road, would create 200 jobs if it got the go-ahead to open next year.

A previous attempt by Morrisons to build a food store on the Wistons Lane site was refused in March, 2000.

The build would mean the retention of the NuSwift jobs, with the factory being moved elsewhere, as well as the creation of new supermarket jobs.

Public support for the Morrisons application has been particularly large, with the council receiving 467 letters of support as well as a 100-page petition.

The Planning Committee will hold the first part of its meeting in Halifax Town Hall with discussions of the supermarkets’ applications to take place from 6.30pm at The Shay.