WORK has started on Tesco’s new £7.5million supermarket in Barnsley.
Sheffield-based contractor JF Finnegan have started to build the eco-store in Hoyland.
The firm is constructing the new circa 28,000sq ft food store at the redundant site of the former Hoyland Market Street Primary School.
The Tesco store is expected to create some 140 local jobs and the building team has now started preparatory site work with handover scheduled for summer 2014.
Mark Twelves, managing director at Litton Properties, said: "We're delighted to have started work bringing this much-needed new food store to Hoyland.
"Research has shown that at present, 90 per cent of people travel outside of Hoyland to do their weekly shopping.
"This new Tesco will enable more people to shop locally which is integral to the long-term sustainability of the area."
Permission for the store was granted in July 2011 and workers started clearing the site in February 2012, but then arguments over a pedestrian crossing on Wombwell Road caused delays.
Litton Properties purchased the site from Barnsley Council and, following an extensive community engagement process, successfully won planning permission to bring the vacant site back to life with the new store.
