PLANS for a Tesco store at Kinson in Bournemouth are still on track, according to the retail giant, despite an announcement that it was ditching some projects.

The supermarket chain said last month that it was writing off £840m worth of UK projects and consigning them to the scrapheap.

A quarter of them were already in progress.

In all, 170 stores projects have been halted, including 17 that were already off the ground and seven mixed-use developments.

But Tesco has confirmed that plans for Kinson, where it wants to demolish the shopping parade in Wimborne Road and start from scratch, were still on track, although it was unable to give a timescale.

Mandy Payne, president of Bournemouth Chamber of Commerce, who is backing moves to reinvigorate the Traders’ Association in Kinson, said: “It will bring a lot of jobs into the area and it’s positive in that sense.

“Hopefully it will liven up the look of Kinson a bit.

“Tesco don’t go anywhere where they don’t see growth and this will help people to shop locally.

“There are arguments against Tesco but I think in this area it will be a boost.”

In October last year the Daily Echo reported that Tesco was a step closer to realising its plans, signing final legal agreements for the development.

However, it is unlikely that work could start before the end of this year at the earliest, with greengrocer Malcolm Townsend standing firm in his unit until his lease runs out in November.