No action is to be taken on a Benfleet "eyesore" until landowners Tesco have had "reasonable" time to come up with a solution.
The controversial decision comes just weeks after moves to put in a new Tesco Express at 260 to 272 was turned down after a three-day planning inquiry.
At the moment, the site is a derelict Save garage, but the land on which it sits belongs to the store giant.
Mr Burchill said: "Tesco is a big company and will need a little time to decide what they want to do with the site. We all want to see it developed, with a residential scheme being the preferred option, but we don't want to put Tesco's backs up or make life difficult for them.
"If they don't come back to us within a reasonable amount of time then we will approach them to see what is happening."
But St George's Ward councillor Jacqueline Govier said: "I very much want to see this resolved and we need to get something done as soon as possible."
Published Tuesday January 13, 2004
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