EXCLUSIVE

A COUNCIL committee has left supermarket giant Tesco rocking in the aisles after crushing a planning application for its mega-sized Portwood store.

The shock decision - made at the Tame Valley area committee meeting earlier this week - snubs planning officers' recommendations for the 'unlawful' store and has been hailed as a 'victory for local democracy' by campaigners.

Steve Parfett, spokesman for local businesses, said: "I'm absolutely delighted with the committee's decision. It shows the true value of local democracy. To go against the planners' recommendations was remarkable - but absolutely right."

He is also demanding the extra floorspace - currently lying cordoned off - should not be used to benefit the store, but instead be given up for community use for the people of Stockport.

"Tesco should now give consideration to allowing the public to use that section of the building - I think that would be a honourable compromise," he said.

Local businesses, councillors and residents were outraged when the supermarket ignored its planning agreement and built the store with an extra 18,000 sq ft of floorspace two years ago - as exclusively revealed by the Stockport Express.

Tesco has since applied for retrospective planning permission to enable the supermarket to stand unaltered.

But Tame Valley councillors refused permission, claiming the proposals still went against the borough's Unitary Development Plan (UDP).

However, the planning application is now likely to go before the full council planning committee where it could yet be granted - but it would still have to be considered by the Secretary of State as it contravenes the UDP.

Tesco representative Mark Skilbeck claimed under the current application the extra space, which the store agreed to cordon off as a 'goodwill gesture' until the matter was resolved, could be used for storage in the future.

But a Tesco spokesman confirmed other uses for the extra floorspace would now be considered.

He added: "We are obviously disappointed. We want to work with the council to find a solution and end the uncertainty for our staff and customers.

"We would hope to find a compromise. The last thing we want is the store pulled down. We would certainly consider other uses but the main thing is the space is not being used for trading."

The overbuild prompted action from pressure group Friends of the Earth who accused the retail giant of trying to 'muscle' Stockport Council.

Tame Valley councillor Peter Scott said: "The application was rejected for the same reason as the Secretary of State turned down Ikea. Tesco were intending to use the space for retail-related purposes which would make it too big."

He added: "It was suggested by the representative that if permission was not granted Tesco would pull down the store entirely but that is ridiculous. Tesco get 39,000 customers a week through that store and make huge profits."

A date for the full planning committee has yet to be set.