PLANS to regenerate Wokingham town centre by building over parts of Elms Field have been put on the backburner.

Council bosses have withdrawn two planning applications - one including ideas to transform parts of Elms Field by building a superstore on part of it, and one for the renovation of Peach Plaza.

The controversial plans were dicussed at a fiery extraordinary council meeting attended by about 400 people earlier this month.

A statement on the Wokingham Borough Council website said: "The regeneration of Wokingham town centre has been a long held aspiration for residents and local businesses alike. Over the years there have been a number of private sector proposals which have not achieved this aim.

The council has stepped in to secure the future of the town. There has been a considerable amount of public engagement in the process to the date and the two linked town centre applications were submitted last month.

Many comments continue to be received on the two applications. Having reviewed and considered the comments and feedback received to date the council has decided to review some aspects of the design of the proposals. In order to avoid any confusion by submitting amendments to the current applications, the council has decided to withdraw them.

The council remains committed to the regeneration process and to achieving a development of excellent design quality. It will resubmit the applications in the near future at which time further consultations will be undertaken."