PLANNING officials are recommending the removal of a potential delay to a multi-million pound commercial development.

A huge redevelopment is proposed at Cannon Park, Middlesbrough, with a 109,000sq ft foodstore, a furniture shop, filling station and fast-food outlet.

The site is presently occupied by a fruit and vegetable warehouse, Cleveland Police workshops, a Middlesbrough Council trading standards building and a carpet store. Undeveloped land north of Cannon Street, backing on to the A66 slip road would also be taken up by the scheme.

Outline planning application was lodged at the council offices last November.

However, because the application was not "supported by the requisite assessments for development of this scale", consultations on the project cannot begin.

Meanwhile, the developers have asked the council to waive a requirement for an environmental impact assessment, a safeguard introduced by the Government in 1999 for large-scale developments.

Officers will tell Middlesbrough councillors at a meeting on Thursday that as the site is already intensively used for warehousing and workshops, the proposed development would not have a significant effect on the environment and so an impact assessment would not be required.