TESCO have made a new offer over the tiny piece of land at the centre of the price war leaving Blackburn with a 'road to nowhere'.

The supermarket giants reduced their demands yesterday after Blackburn with Darwen Council agreed a Compulsory Purchase Order to buy the 200 square yard triangle of ground.

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On Thursday night borough regeneration boss, Cllr Phil Riley said he hoped to resolve the stand-off without going further with the lengthy legal process.

Currently a 500 yard section of road from the Red Lion roundabout towards Tesco's Hill Street superstore, built at a cost of £1million, is sealed off at both ends.

The council has to buy the land near Gorse Street from Tesco to join it to the rest of the the £4.8million Furthergate Link Road which opens at Easter.

It is part of the £40million Pennine Reach scheme.

The dispute, with echoes of saga of the Wainwright Bridge 'to nowhere' which took 10 years to link up, got a mixed reaction from readers after the Lancashire Telegraph revealed it on Thursday.

Comments ranged from labelling Blackburn with Darwen Council a 'Clowncil' to Tesco being 'greedy'.

Clr Riley told the Executive Board: "I remain hopeful that we an resolve this without the CPO which could take two years.

"Nobody though it would take this long to agree a price.

"By going for a CPO we will get an independent valuation.

"There is a significant gap between us and Tesco."

Yesterday, a Tesco spokesman said: "Our latest discussions are progressing well.

"We look forward to hearing from the council on our latest proposals so we can reach a swift agreement for the local community."

On the Telegraph website garydavies2304 posted: "But they carried on with the road lol. That's the clowns who run our town."

Eric Shawn said: "To start building before all the required land is secured is incompetent."

Ronnietate posted: "Tesco's makes more than enough money putting small market traders and corner shops out of business, now they are holding up the completion of this much needed road network."

Caspar the ghost added: "Dumb Council! Dumb planning! Greedy TESCO!"

Traffic will use the existing Burnley Road between the new junction and the roundabout in the short-term.