Islanders took the opportunity to browse plans for a proposed Sainsbury’s store in Halfway.

Developer Citygrove Securities held an exhibition for residents to find out more about its proposals for a £25m shop and petrol station on Tuesday.

If given the go ahead, the store would be built on the former HBC Engineering site in Power Station Road and would create 400 jobs.

Around 50 residents had already been through the doors for the exhibition at New Road Community Centre in Minster by 4pm.

There they could look at photo montages and visuals of how the store would look from the outside as well as layout plans and drawings showing how it would fit with the area.

One of the concerns for people has been access to and from the site and what the increased traffic flow would do to the area.

There were plans showing the proposed highways improvements, which include the widening of Power Station Road at the junction with Halfway Road to allow for an easier exit on to the roundabout.

There is also a plan for a new footpath along the north side of Power Station Road and Citygrove boss Andrew Rennie said they are working with KCC to agree a package of improvements.

Another aspect of the plans include Citygrove making a contribution to provide a better and more frequent bus service across Sheppey after they learned residents had concerns about the current timetable.

Ann and John Stanger, of Buddle Drive, Halfway, went along to the exhibition to find out more.

Mrs Stanger said: “Our view is that a derelict site is not very good and anything that can take the place of that is an improvement.

“Road concerns seem to be a given with everyone because obviously we live here, it’s a small estate and we are going to have a substantial amount of traffic but [Citygrove] seem to have appreciated that quite well .

“We need improvements on the Isle of Sheppey.”

Raleigh Way resident Mick Galvin said he still has concerns about the Halfway traffic lights and the extra traffic which will be going through them.

“One of their answers were about double yellow lines but there’s no one to enforce that,” he said.

“KCC said years ago the roads were past saturation point and can’t be improved so they have got to give this careful consideration.

“They can do the Halfway traffic lights but it needs a lot of thought and it costs money but the problem can be solved.

“The exhibition was very informative.”

Philip Salter, of Scotchmen Close, had the same concerns with the roads but said an up market supermarket like Sainsbury’s coming to Sheppey would be beneficial.

He added: “I’m never going to be happy with the road situation and the [delivery] lorries worry me a little bit but we have been assured it will work.”

Citygrove boss Andrew Rennie said they were pleased with how the exhibition went and felt they had positive feedback from visitors.

He said: “People have been very interested and very supportive.

“We had a lot of people expressing their enthusiasm for the food store on the Island.

“I think so far residents have appreciated that it’s a readily accessible site for residents in Halfway and Minster, allowing them to walk to the store.

“We also feel we could make a contribution to increase the general bus service which will be part of the planning application.”