UK property development and investment group Terrace Hill has received a minded to grant recommendation with regard to two of its current planning applications, a Sainsbury's supermarket at Riverside Road in Sunderland and an Asda supermarket in Skelton, East Cleveland.

Both the applications have now been referred to the Department of Communities and Local Government, where the local authorities recommendations have to be approved by the end of September.

Construction on the new supermarket in Sunderland, which is pre-let to Sainsbury's, is expected to commence mid 2012, with the store opening in Spring 2013. Once complete, the store will offer 60,000 sq ft (5,600 m2) of sales area, a petrol filling station and 537 parking spaces.

The planning recommendation at Skelton follows shortly after the announcement in August 2011 of a 25-year pre-let to Asda. The development will comprise a new supermarket with a net sales area of 25,000 sq ft with 239 car spaces and a petrol filling station. Construction is due to commence in the first quarter of 2012 and the store should be open for trade by the end of 2012.