Plans two months away from submission

This will establish the principle of developing the farmland for retail and commercial uses.

The important document will contain the proposals for a 75,000-80,000sq ft store off Shripney Road.

It will also feature all the infrastructure '“ a dual carriageway and other roads, sewage, power connections '“ needed for a business park to be built alongside the store.

An important part of the application as well will be a 10,000sq ft two-storey office building as the first stage of the business park.

Arun District Council will consider the application in the coming months.

If it is approved, Asda intends to send in a detailed application to deal with the precise matters of the development during late 2008.

A further approval will be needed from the council before any work can begin on the site. The final go-ahead will signal the start of 12 months of construction to before the store and office block are ready. This could see the store's first customers walking through its front doors in about mid-2010. Refusal by Arun could see Asda appealing to the government's Planning Inspectorate. The timetable was outlined by Asda's development surveyor Barney Harle.

He is the man in charge of the firm's project in Bognor.

He claimed the firm was the only hope of getting the total 23.05 hectares of Oldlands Farm developed in line with Arun's land use blueprint which foresees industrial premises there.

'A commercial developer will not take on that site,' he said, ' because the cost of the infrastructure would be 6m. That's 1.5m for the Asda store and 4.5m to install the services for the business park. It will take a developer 10-15 years to get a return on that level of investment.

'They cannot afford to do that but Asda can.'

The company bought eight acres of the site from the Langmead Estate in early 2006. The farming family still own the rest. The first phase of the business park, which Asda is prepared to help develop, will stretch over 31 acres. A slightly larger area can be used as the second phase once potential flooding from the adjoining Lidsey Rife are tackled. It is expected that the business park and store will generate some 1,500 jobs. By installing the basic services for the business park, it is hoped that developers will be more willing to put up offices and factories.

Bognor was chosen by Asda because the site had been earmarked for development. 'It is very difficult to find sites like that,' stated Mr Harle.

The firm has since commissioned dozens of surveys from various experts to find out the effect of its proposals on the surrounding area.

The subjects include transport, wildlife habitats, flooding and the environment. One report alone is an inch thick and full of detailed analysis of the situation. The documents will supplement the outline application.