THE FEARED closure of one of Keighley’s supermarkets could affect the viability of the town’s planned retail park, a councillor has warned.

Councillor Adrian Naylor says thousands of square feet of retail space would fall empty if the proposed merger of Asda and Sainsbury’s forced the closure of one of their Keighley stores.

He believes this vacant space could be filled by store chains who would otherwise sign up for the proposed Aire Valley Retail Park in nearby East Parade.

The previous project planned for the East Parade site, the Worth Valley Shopping Centre, was scrapped after developers failed to attract enough high-profile tenants to make it viable.

Agents for the Aire Valley Retail Park project were unavailable for comment.

Developers the U+I group bought the derelict East Parade site in 2016 after previous owners scrapped their £30 million Worth Valley Shopping Centre project.

As reported late last year, the agent for U+H said the firm hoped to submit a planning application for the proposed Aire Valley Retail Park “early in the first quarter” of 2018.