A MAJOR DIY store could still come to Stowmarket - even though one bid has been turned down.Focus DIY had hoped to create 35 jobs by setting up business on land off Gipping Way and Bridge Street.

A MAJOR DIY store could still come to Stowmarket - even though one bid has been turned down.

Focus DIY had hoped to create 35 jobs by setting up business on land off Gipping Way and Bridge Street.

But Mid Suffolk councillors rejected this move, saying it was an inappropriate use of the site and would not create sufficient employment.

However, the go-ahead has been given for a non-food retail warehouse in Prentice Road, which could eventually house a DIY chain.

This proposal, voted through by Mid Suffolk council yesterday, includes 85 car parking spaces and a new crossing of the river Gipping.

The bridge would be used by cyclists and pedestrians and would link with a new toucan crossing on Gipping Way.

The development, which could be complete within two years, would sit alongside the planned B1115 Relief Road.

At present, it has not been revealed which chain is being lined up for the site, although Focus has already ruled itself out of the running.

A spokesman for the company said it is not a big enough piece of land for one of their stores and was not in a prominent enough position.

Access problems, along the narrow Prentice Road, were also flagged up as something deterring the company from the site.

The spokesman added: "We've been trying to get into Stowmarket for a number of years. The Prentice Road site has been available and had it been of any value to us we would've taken it up."

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