THE long wait over the fate of proposals for a Tesco store continues, one year after the application was first submitted - and the decision date has been pushed back again.

It was one year ago this week that news spread through the town like wildfire that the supermarket giant was launching its second bid to build on the former Bordon Motors site.

Permission was again granted, but the application, like Tesco's first, was "called in" and scrutinised at an inquiry by a planning inspector.

At the time of the public inquiry in May, planning inspector Michael Calshaw said he expected his report would be completed and passed on to the department of Transport, Local Government and Regions in June.

He anticipated that the department's new Secretary of State, Stephen Byres, would be endorsing or rejecting the recommendation before publishing the final result at the end of July or beginning of August.

Since then the town has been on tenterhooks, waiting for a decision which still hasn't come.

The Government Office for the South East (GOSE), like all planning authorities, works to government-set deadlines for making decisions.

Its 13-week deadline (from the moment it reaches the inspector's report) is fast approaching.

GOSE spokesman Suzanne Halls said: "The inspector's report has come out and and is going to the Government Office for the South East, which has written a letter to the district council informing it of when a decision will be made.

"They have 13 weeks to make a decision from when the report is received, so unfortunately the decision date has been pushed back and we are talking about October 19 now.

"Progress is being made, but unfortunately the dates have been pushed back."

East Hampshire District Council's planning manager Ian Ellis said that he will be glad when the long wait is finally over and he is hopeful that the decision may come through sooner rather than later.

"The district council has been informed that the report is with the Government Office for the South East and a formal decision is expected within the next three or four weeks and the district council is hoping that the decision will be a positive decision for Tesco and in line with the wishes of Bordon residents."