New information about applications for stores in Sheringham, Fakenham, Wells and Cromer arrived only an hour before Thursday's crucial meeting.

North Norfolk District Council officials decided to defer the decision on the superstores for a month.

Councillors said the new information had to be properly assessed.

Dan Corbett, chair of the council meeting held at Cromer, said: "It (the new details) categorically changed some of the information which was going to be presented to members, so we had no option but to defer."

The applications for the superstores came from Tesco for stores in Fakenham and Sheringham; from Budgens for Wells and from Morrison's for an extension to their store in Cromer.

The people in Sheringham have been waging a vociferous battle against a new superstore for 10 years.

Spending power

Campaigners thought they had lost the fight last year when planners gave Tesco permission to build on a site on the edge of the town centre.

But a study commissioned by the council concluded there was not enough spending power in North Norfolk to sustain all the supermarkets.

As well as the study, there was new planning guidance from the government.

This says that when considering new supermarkets local councils must prove the store is needed, that the development is of an appropriate scale and that it will have no unacceptable impact on existing centres.

This prompted a rethink about the proposals for all four supermarkets.

The meeting on Thursday was to reconsider the supermarket plans in the light of the study and government planning guidance, but then new information came to light about the applications which caused the council to defer any decision.