A LONG-AWAITED retail park for Maldon will not be open until 2019, a meeting heard.

Hearings into the district’s long-delayed Local Development Plan have continued this week.

On Tuesday, planning inspector Simon Berkeley was provided with information on Maldon District Council’s plans on the future of the Aquila development on The Causeway.

Home Bargains and Sports Direct are to join budget supermarket Aldi and clothes store Next in the Blackwater Retail Park.

The hearing heard the centre is now due to open in 2019.

Ian Butt, interim strategic planning policy manager for Maldon District Council, told the inspector the council would be “taking a step back” to see whether more shops were needed in the town afterwards.

He said: “The Aquila will be a fairly significant development for Maldon, the likes of which hasn’t been introduced for some years.

“We believe there is a justification to see what happens with it.

“There may be capacity available for further retail space in the Maldon area once Aquila is completed, but it would be more beneficial to monitor and review the progress of the town over the two-year period, to identify if any market pressure arises for the town which requires this capacity to be allocated.

“This is our justification for monitoring and reviewing the development instead of allocating additional spaces just to fill capacity.”

Burnham resident John Hitcham told the hearing the council needs to prepare for the “cannibalisation” of high street trade.

He said: “It is key for the council to understand the effects of online shopping markets, which can have a cannibalistic effect on the town centre shopping habits not just here but across the country.

“It is far more convenient these days for people living in remote areas to order something online and have it arrive at your house the next day in a dirty white van, than it is to put diesel in your car and drive long distances to shop.”

He added: “With the High Street, we’ve seen many shops come in and then close up, including convenience stores who once thrived there, but many are forced to close and left empty.

“My gut feeling is the district needs allocation of more retail space like a fish needs water.”