CALLS were made today for more openness surrounding the massive applications for supermarkets in Huddersfield.

There is still no sign of a formal planning meeting about plans for a new £40m Asda between Chapel Hill and Queen Street South.

And plans for a huge Tesco as part of a £120m regeneration of Southgate are also ongoing, with no date for a committee hearing.

Chas Ball, is the secretary of Town First which opposes the plans.

He said: “The process moves so slowly people have the mistaken impression that it’s a done deal.

“I approached the planning officers dealing with major projects and asked for an update, but the discussions are some way off.

“I was told they are working on things and they were asked to provide me with the list of possible changes

“This is because it is quite clear the first Asda proposal was very basic. It’s pretty much an off-the-shelf application.

“If it’s going through a lot of changes it would be helpful for the public to be kept updated.

“There are issues as simple as how will Asda traffic be dealt with at Chapel Hill? The new Kirklees College is on the way and this particular issue was raised by a number of councillors.”

The group has been vocal in its opposition, claiming that the offer of free parking will see the retail giants grow at the expense of local business.

Mr Ball added: “We are asking for the opportunity to be in on the new parts of the application before it goes to council.

“We are saying we would like a bit more openness and more opportunity for the public to have an involvement.

“There will be a lot of changes by the time it goes to planning. Between those changes being received and the meeting itself businesses, civic societies and residents want a proper chance to reflect on them.

“It will do the process a lot of good if there’s more light shed on it.”

A spokesman for Asda said: “Our application for a new store on Chapel Hill is currently being assessed by Kirklees Council.

“Since we submitted our plans, we have received significant support from the local community in Huddersfield with many local people enquiring about job opportunities at the planned store.

“Our plans will generate up to 400 new full and part time jobs for local people and ASDA will set up a Local Employment Partnership targeting local job seekers.

“The planned store will also help secure the future of local manufacturing firm Broadbent in Huddersfield.”

Matthew Magee, corporate affairs manager at Tesco said: “Our multi-million pound proposals for Southgate, which promise to create hundreds of new jobs, were submitted earlier this year and are still in the process of being assessed by the council.

“If there are significant changes to the scheme which are materially different to those originally applied for, we will of course let everyone know.

“We are very keen to secure a committee date in the next few weeks, so if we are successful, we can start the groundwork for what we believe will be one of the only major investments in Huddersfield this year.”

A Kirklees Council spokesman said: “Both applications are going through the normal planning process, which involves full details being available for anyone to view on the council website or in person at our offices.

“There is also the chance for anyone to express comments and these are taken into account by the planning committee.

“The two applications are being assessed and there have been discussions with several parties, including Town First.

“There is no date at the moment for either to go before the planning committee as large scale applications often involve complex issues, but the Local Planning Authority is endeavouring to deal with all matters as soon as possible”.