CRUNCH meetings between planning officers and Tesco are thought to have been held to pave the way for work on the controversial superstore to start.

Work was expected to start on the multi-million pound Station Road store, on the boundary of Lawford and Manningtree, early this year with the shop opening in 2015.

But the superstore giant stalled a number of builds across the country when sales dipped in the recession.

Now Tendring Council is rumoured to have called the supermarket giant before them to find out what was happening.

Manningtree councillor Mark Morsley said work on the planning conditions coupled with the short-time scale before permission runs out is evidence the plans are set to go ahead.

Mr Morsley, who was part of the Manningtree4Tesco group, said: “Maybe at long last we will get a Tesco – time is running out as they have only got until November.

“Let’s hope we are actually going forward.”

Tesco confirmed they had held meetings with Tendring Council to update them on the plans.

Tendring Council said officers and councillors had been in regular contact with the applicants since permission was granted but would not go into further detail about the meeting.