CAM councillors have expressed their disappointment that a proposed village centre development has been shelved after 14 years of planning.

The proposed ‘heart of Cam’ development, which was to include new parish council offices and a community café, has been left on the back-burner while the country rides out the recession.

At the Cam Parish Assembly, an annual meeting for the people of Cam held last week, councillors expressed sadness and exasperation that their plans had been scuppered by the economic downturn.

Cllr Margaret Nolder, who has worked on the project since the beginning, said: "It seems to me there is a curse on the development. Last year we got closer than we ever have to seeing the plan through to the end. It is so sad that we are going to have to wait all over again."

Last year Cam Parish Council announced with excitement that the development, to be built on district council owned land in Chapel Street, was in the planning stages.

Architects had drawn up plans for an environmentally friendly parish council office and a developer had agreed to take on the remainder of the site building the café, some houses and shop fronts. But just as plans seemed to be getting under way the development company went bust due to the crash in the housing market.

"I know there must be lots of Cam residents looking at the site thinking why can’t something be done," said Cllr Nolder. "But we really have tried and now we just have to wait until the country gets out of this recession."

Cllr John Hudson, former chairman of the parish council, said in a speech to the parish assembly: "I am disappointed at not being able to report progress on the Chapel Street development, the one project I was so confident of progressing while I was chairman.

"As a council we had got closer this year to starting building on the site than we have ever been in the last 14 years.

"This time the major factor in delaying the process is the current financial climate."

He added: "The district council is at the moment looking into the site’s current financial viability, with a view to remarketing it."