Members of the public wanting to watch the big planning meeting this week to decide Sheringham's two supermarket plans will have to get their early to snap up the 120 places available.

PEOPLE wanting to watch today's meeting will have to get there early to snap up the 120 places available.

The meeting starts at 9.30am at North Norfolk District Council's Holt Road headquarters at Cromer.

Doors will open at 8.30am, with public spaces allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

About 45 spaces, 10 of them standing, will be in the council chamber itself, with another 75 in the committee room and canteen via an audio-visual link.

Members of the public will be given a numbered ticket as they enter the building, and sign into the room they have been allocated to meet safety requirements.

Anyone without a ticket will not be admitted to the meeting rooms, and once the rooms' capacity is reached, no more people will be admitted until spaces become vacant.

The normal public speaking rules apply for each of the two plans - by Tesco and the Greenhouse Community Project - with speakers given priority places in the chamber.

Sheringham Town Council and up to eight other speakers (four in favour, four against) will be allowed to speak alternately for a maximum of three minutes - a total of 18 submissions comprising about an hour of the meeting.

Anyone wanting to speak must register their interest with the council receptionists on the door by 9.15am at the latest.

Audio and video recording, and photography, are not permitted by anyone in any of the three rooms while the meeting is in progress.

Nearly 70 extra parking spaces will be also made available at the council office on Thursday, with staff parking elsewhere, but visitors on the day are urged to car-share where possible to help relieve the inevitable pressure on parking spaces.