TESCO says Bridgwater town centre will be around £30million better off each year if its giant Extra supermarket goes ahead.

That is one of the stand-out claims in a mammoth planning application for its Northgate store, which is finally available for the public to see.

It is based on the predicted revenue of the Tesco Extra and seven other commercial units planned for Northgate, and studies about the current spending patterns of people in Sedgemoor.

Although Tesco would be the biggest recipient of that cash, it says other traders in the town centre would benefit.

Tesco estimates at least 60% of the 1.21million shoppers expected to visit its store will go on to visit the town centre.

The store would create 260 jobs, most of them part time.

The planning documents also reveal the Northgate supermarket would become the first “regeneration partnership store” in the south-west, meaning a third of the jobs will be given to the long-term unemployed.

The documents also show that another 120 jobs will be created at the seven commercial units and one office unit.

Those units would be lined up, north to south, in the area where the Splash used to be.

The supermarket would be in the centre of the site, in between Anson Way and the old magistrates’ court, using part of Brewery Field.

The car park would be on the eastern edge, by the Northgate/Clink junction, and would replace several buildings owned by Somerset County Council which would be demolished.