CALLS for the redevelopment of a site in Otley earmarked for Sainsbury's ill-fated attempts to build a supermarket have grown this week.

As revealed by the Wharfedale Observer last week, supermarket giant Sainsburys' has pulled out of its bid to build a 20,000 square foot community store - which would have created 150 jobs - and the transformation of the former tannery in Gay Lane into flats.

Sainsbury's claimed that because it still had not got planning permission after nearly two years it was unwilling to proceed further.

The supermarket chain also said that business circumstances had changed.

Now the future of one of the most important sites in the town is up in the air, with calls growing for the Bondgate area, which includes the fire station and Park Lane College's Otley Centre, and the old tannery to be redeveloped to help the regeneration of Otley.

Councillor Phil Coyne, chairman of Otley Town Partnership, said that he is hoping to have a meeting with the Leeds Development Agency, the property arm of Leeds City Council, to

discuss future uses of the site and see what they can come up with.

And he said that an ideal development could be a hotel, after developers Macdonald Hotels pulled out of plans to build two hotels near Leeds-Bradford Airport on Whitehouse Lane, Yeadon.

"I am keen to see a hotel in the town, possibly this could be the ideal site - we would have to talk to developers and see.

"The question really is now how to redevelop that site."

Coun Graham Kirkland (Lib Dem, Otley and Wharfedale) said: "Every cloud has a silver lining. There was at least two other supermarket chains interested in the Bondgate and tannery sites before Sainsbury's moved in.

"It may be possible for another supermarket to come in, or something completely different.

"There are 17 landowners on that site, so it will prove difficult. I hope that a replacement will come up because that part of Bondgate is a mess."

Redevelopment of the site would be subject to a new site being found for the existing fire station.

A Leeds City Council spokeswoman confirmed that there were no

objections to the principle of a supermarket on the site and were 'very disappointed' with Sainsbury's decision.

"We were not able to agree on some of the details," she added.

Meanwhile, Tony Middlemiss, of George Middlemiss and Son Butchers welcomed Sainsbury's decision to pull out but feared that other supermarkets are taking interests in other sites in the town.

"It's very good that Sainsbury's have pulled out because we objected strongly to it. It would have ruined trade and caused a lot of traffic problems.

"I'm not celebrating yet, though, as other supermarkets may have an

interest in other sites. We should keep Otley as it is.

"What we need on that site is a nice family-run hotel. We are supposed to be a tourist town, but we seem to be the only one without a hotel or a proper car park."

In a Wharfedale Observer poll in September 1999, 60 per cent of readers who voted said that they were against Sainsbury's building on the site.