A bid for a drive-through KFC and Starbucks, along with a petrol station, at the gateway to the Norwich Northern Distributor Road have been scrapped.
The application to Broadland District Council for the development at the heart of the Postwick Hub, where the A47 connects to the £205m NDR, has been withdrawn by the applicant.
The plans had a chequered history. In January last year, members of Broadland District Council's planning committee had turned down a previous scheme, partly because of concerns which had been raised by Anglian Water.
The water company feared potential contamination of a nearby water source, which provides drinking water to more than 60,000 people in Norwich.
The petrol station's three proposed underground storage tanks would have sat above a chalk deposit, from which Anglian Water extracts ground water.
Despite the applicant's assurances such tanks had never leaked, councillors voted to turn down the scheme by nine votes to two, with a second reason for rejection that the site was not allocation for such uses as retail.
However, applicants Monte Blackburn and Pigeon Investments returned with a revised application, which sought to overcome the concerns which had been raised on the previous occasion.
Documents lodged with Broadland District Council in February last year had stated that the applicants had "maintained an open dialogue" with Anglian Water and had sought to amend the location and design of the underground tanks, to address the outstanding concerns.
Agents PWA Planning had said that the changes would have come "at a considerable cost to the developer" but they were confident the tweaked approach would overcome Anglian Water's concerns.
They had said: "The works would result in the active re-use of a vacant, strategically located site, which will bring significant benefits to the local economy which should be considered a major, material gain in the overall planning balance."
However, the applicant has contacted Broadland District Council to withdraw the scheme.
The applicant has not commented on the reasons for the withdrawal or whether revised proposals will be submitted in the future.
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