IT is the controversial superstore which divided a Hampshire town and moved thousands to protest.

Work has begun on the site of a proposed Sainsbury's store after years of controversy - but doubts are growing over the scheme after the retail giant announced a cull of new developments.

Sainsbury's revealed that it is dropping 40 planned supermarkets this month as sales drop and more cash is poured into smaller convenience branches. The grocer said schemes which are “unlikely to achieve an appropriate return on capital” have been pulled, but it has sparked fury from civic chiefs by refusing to confirm whether the long-touted Bishop's Waltham store is among them.

Diggers moved onto the Abbey Mill site last week to build a two-metre-high perimeter fence protecting Sainsbury's' planning permission.

It comes more than half a decade after the plans first sparked debate on whether a major superstore would help or hurt the historic market town.

Anti-Sainsbury's campaigners said a national chain would wreck the town's high street and independent businesses, while supporters hailed the store as a victory for consumer choice and disabled shoppers who cannot travel.

The future of the project is thought to have been decided internally. Civic chiefs and campaigners on both sides are frustrated by the public uncertainty, which also raises questions about how the town's GP service will cope with a rising population and large house-building programme over the next two decades.

Sainsbury's was set to fund a new £1.6 million GP's surgery next to the store as part of the scheme, easing pressure on the current practice.

Ward councillor David McLean said he is “furious” with the supermarket's silence.

“It's pathetic that they're not keeping us in the loop,” he said. “We're in a day where people are meant to communicate with each other, and they're not. The speculation will be rife.”

A Sainsbury's spokesman said: “In light of the recently announced strategic review, which confirmed that eight new supermarkets will be developed over the next three years, we are in the process of reviewing all of our schemes. Once this review is complete we will be able to provide an update on our plans for Bishop's Waltham.”