A five-year wait could soon end, with a supermarket scheme in a growing village set for final permission.
A reserved matters application for the 2,200m sq Lidl supermarket next to Taverham Garden Centre, off Fir Covert Road, will be considered by Broadland District Council, three years after plans were approved.
It is part of an application by Scott Properties and Lidl to also develop a pub/restaurant, fast food restaurant and a lifestyle leisure unit on the four-hectare plot, which received outline planning consent in 2018.
So far, no businesses have come forward for the other units, according to Taverham Parish Council chairman John Pennells, but it is hoped the arrival of Lidl would attract other firms to come on board.
Part of the applicant's design and access statement said: "The surrounding land uses demonstrate that the site is particularly well suited to a mixed use retail and commercial development and ideally located to serve the existing settlement."
Mr Pennells, along with county councillor Stuart Clancy, who represents Taverham, said the supermarket would be welcomed.
He and Mr Pennells hoped work would start on road improvements at the Fir Covert Road, A1067 Fakenham Road and Beech Avenue junction before Lidl was built.
Mr Clancy said: "I am very enthusiastic about the supermarket happening. It would bring considerable benefit to the community. It has been a long process. It is essential we get the road improvements."
The county councillor said all authorities were behind enhancing the dangerous junction with traffic lights and crossings but said if the store was not built the road improvements would not happen.
He added a LIdl would boost employment and reduce journey times for people going food shopping in the area and had been made aware by the applicant that building work could start this spring.
Mr Pennells said: "It has been five years in the making. The possibilities with the site are endless. Watch this space."
He added the safety of the junction was paramount and the supermarket would benefit thousands of extra residents who could move into the village over the next decade, amid potential plans to build 1,500 homes nearby.
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