PLANS for a supermarket in a prime location in Greenock could be back on the shelf - in another twist to a long running saga.

The Tele can reveal that Inverclyde Council’s planning board will finally be asked to make a decision on a three year old application to earmark a site off Brougham Street for a superstore.

Councillors will deliver their verdict at the board’s next meeting.

Landowners Clydeport submitted a superstore bid back in October 2013, with Asda lined up to occupy the site in a £20m development.

The company pledged to create 500 jobs but many irate residents opposed the application.

Asda later pulled out, saying the proposed Greenock store was no longer ‘commercially viable’.

Since then the application has gathered dust with no decision ever taken either way by councillors.

The Tele understands that Clydeport recently asked the council to rule on it.

We previously reported back in 2014 that planning officers were likely to oppose any moves for a superstore in Brougham Street, because it was not in the town’s development blueprint.

However council leader Stephen McCabe and other key players were keen to leave the door open for any investment which could deliver jobs.

There were attempts by politicians, including former MP Iain McKenzie, to find alternative locations for Asda in the town, but they never came to fruition.

It’s understood that Clydeport’s Brougham Street application will be considered in August.

A spokesman for Peel Ports, who run Clydeport, said: “This is an historic planning application dating back to 2013 which has yet to be decided by the local planning authority.

“There have been no new developments on the site in this time but Peel would welcome a decision by the planning authority to allow us to explore and progress options for redeveloping the area.”