Tesco pulled its plans for a 10,062m2 superstore ahead of a special council meeting to consider the application.
The retailer had proposed to build on a former gasworks in the north of the town but met with opposition from local people and the Green Party, which argued that Tesco is destroying high street diversity.
A Tesco spokesman said it withdrew the plans because it had got close to the council's 13-week deadline for major schemes and it would resubmit shortly. "This is a multimillion pound investment. We want to get it right," he insisted.
