Retail giant Tesco has confirmed it is still committed to opening a new supermarket on an out-of-town site in Lochaber.
The UK’s biggest supermarket chain has planning permission for the development on Blar Mhor at Fort William.
However, the proposed store was delayed more than a year ago with Tesco saying work would not start until next year at the earliest.
The announcement was followed by calls for the company to release the land to another major food retailer and for a boycott of Tesco stores.
Tesco is still unable to provide any information regarding the timescale for the development, but insists that it is committed to delivering a store on the site.
A spokesman for the company said: “We’re pleased to have planning permission for a new store in Fort William.
“We’re not yet in a position to confirm an opening date, but we will keep the community closely updated on our plans.
“Meanwhile, we continue to work hard to provide a great service to local customers from our town centre Metro store.”
He added that work was not scheduled to commence in the 2014-15 financial year and could not say whether it would start in the next financial year.
Councillor Andrew Baxter, Fort William and Ardnamurchan, said he found it hard to believe the supermarket giant did not know whether it would be starting work on the site in 2015-16.
He said: “A business like Tesco must plan much further in advance than that.
“However, as they have so many problems with their finances at the moment, I’m not looking forward to seeing Tesco open on the Blar any time soon.
“I am still convinced they have land-banked the site and believe that, if they have no immediate plans to build a new store there, it’s time they moved aside to give another supermarket a chance.”