A CONTROVERSIAL £32million supermarket has applied for permission to increase its shopfloor by 10 per cent a week before it opens.

Traders groups said the move from bosses of the new Accrington Tesco in Eagle Street was another blow to Hyndburn’s struggling town centres.

The news came as another new supermarket opened, a Morrisons in Great Harwood.

And Tesco is also bidding to open a new store in Great Harwood.

Since it was announced that Tesco was to open in the town two years ago, the bid has been surrounded in controversy with fears that it would damage Accrington’s already-fragile town centre.

And just days ago it was announced that, despite pledging to create 450 jobs, only 191 positions have been made available.

Now the supermarket wants to increase the sales floor by 400sq m, 10 per cent of the proposed 4,400sq m.

A spokesman for Tesco said their research has shown that Hyndburn residents were spending £100million year in supermarkets outside of the borough and the increase would have little impact on local shops, despite being located on the edge of the town centre.

The spokesman said: "In Accrington there is some feeling that a lot of people travel out of town to do their shopping.

"This new store would help bring it back into the town."

Ian Smith, president of Hyndburn Chamber of Trade, said many shopkeepers in Accrington were frightened that the supermarket would ‘kill off' the small businesses in the town.

Mr Smith, who runs a butchers in Accrington Market Hall, said: "For small businesses this is a worrying time.

"We know that there will be a lot of people who shop there rather than in the smaller shops in Accrington.”

The supermarket’s own research found that Tesco will have an expected 13 per cent impact on sales at Accrington's Marks and Spencer and a six per cent impact on markets.

Its ‘cumulative impact survey’ also found it would have seven per cent impact on all of Accrington town centre.

The new store will open on Monday at 8am.

A decision on whether the sales floor will be allowed to be increased will be made by Hyndburn’s planning committee on Wednesday.