D-DAY is approaching: Thursday, March 27 is the deadline for the Vale of White Horse to receive comments about Doric’s £100m plans to transform Botley’s modest West Way shopping precinct into a glitzy district centre.

Doric’s scheme is based on a gigantic superstore, bigger than any for miles around.

Now here’s the thing: the media abounds at this moment with features about how big supermarkets already are things of the past.

Instead, trends reveal that there is a dramatic shift towards people doing their major shopping online, with top-ups at small local convenience stores.

Only last week there were headline stories saying just that in two major national newspapers.

The same week there was a revealing radio interview with a recently retired chairman of a major food chain, apropos of the severe difficulties some major food retailers are having.

He was adamant that big supermarkets are doomed, that existing ones will have to consider dividing up their premises via franchising arrangements and that any developer considering investing in large supermarkets needs to think again. In view of all this, I ask: Have Doric’s plans passed their sell-by date?

RUTH CAMERON, Conifer Close, Botley, Oxford