Plans for a major supermarket on the site of a former school still hang in the balance - two years after the company began negotiations to buy the site.

The controversial bid to build the new Asda store in Rooley Lane on the site of Gregory Middle School hit a storm at Holme Wood estate when residents launched a campaign to stop it.

Hundreds of residents objected and said they wanted the company to keep its existing supermarket in Knowles Lane because the new store would be too far away.

But the shopping chain offered to provide buses to the new store and said the premises at Knowles Lane were no longer suitable for the modern facilities it wanted to offer.

The scheme hit a massive stumbling block, however, when Secretary of State for Environment and Transport for the Regions John Prescott ordered a public inquiry - even though the Council wanted to approve it.

His concerns included out-of-town shopping and the designation of the site.

But six months after the end of the public inquiry last November, the company is still awating the result.

Today a spokesman for the DETR said "significant planning issues" were now being considered and he did not know when there would be a result.

That means the Council is also kept waiting for the estimated £4 million proceeds of the site.

But a company spokesman said they had not changed their plans and still wanted to press on with the development.

A Council spokesman said: "It will not affect the schools review because the sources of funding are already identified.

He added the proceeds from the land sale could go towards other Council projects.

Plans for a multi million pound depot at Cross Lane, near the Drighlington bypass, were also delayed when the Government stepped in and ordered an inquiry.

The company, Princes Soft Drinks, is now looking for another site for the development which could bring hundreds of jobs.

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