STEVE DOWNES Councillors will refuse to make any public comment until a week after a controversial supermarket land deal report is released.

STEVE DOWNES

Councillors will refuse to make any public comment until a week after a controversial supermarket land deal report is released.

The investigation into the 2003 agreement between North Norfolk District Council and Tesco is being published on Wednesday.

But council leader Simon Partridge says a blackout on comments from cabinet members and senior officers will be in force until it had been debated at full council on June 28.

He said: "It's very important that we leave people to make their own minds up about this report and don't try - or give

any reason to think we're trying - to influence their views.

"District councillors especially must have a chance to digest it without interference before it is discussed at full council."

The inquiry was launched when the council's planning committee was discussing Tesco's bid to build a superstore on Cromer Road in Sheringham.

Members were told of a legal agreement which stopped the council promoting a store development on a location which it owned.

It meant the council had little option but to remove

its objections to the plan, despite fierce local opposition.

Tesco is now submitting fresh plans, seeking formal approval, which will stop the need for a public inquiry into an earlier refusal.

The report into the secret deal was written by the council's monitoring officer and audit and performance manager Emma Duncan and Peter Gollop.

It has already been debated for two-and-a-half hours by cabinet in a private meeting on June 12.

Mr Partridge said: "We are considering what we need to do, in the light of what we've learned already."

The report will be available on June 21 at www.northnorfolk.org/democracy, with hard copies placed in libraries and council offices on June 22.