THE demolition of a Tesco food store and filling station in Bicester is set to be discussed today by Cherwell District Council’s planning committee.

The site in Pingle Drive is next to the western boundary of Bicester Village. If plans are approved, it would allow further expansion of the Village’s retail and car parking space, as well as a new £5.5m office park project.

The current building would be replaced by a new Tesco superstore on land adjoining the A41 Oxford Road, south west of Bicester Village, which the company said would be going ahead despite other stores having recently been shut.

The Tesco Metro store in Sheep Street this month became one of 43 shut across the UK.

In its response to the planning application, Oxfordshire County Council said: “OCC would encourage the provision and maintenance of a Changing Places Toilet within the Bicester Village complex to enable severely disabled people to visit the site.”

It added developers would be required to create an Employment and Skills Plan to ensure local people had access to training and employment opportunities on the site.

It is hoped, together with other new businesses at the office park project in Oxford Road, 3,000 new jobs will be created on the site.