LEADING councillors and business bosses in Bacup have called on a supermarket to let a rival build a store in the town.

Morrisons wants to convert derelict land in Lee Street into a superstore.

But the land is owned by the Co-operative, which has a contract meaning the land cannot be turned into a supermarket.

Now seven prominent figures, including former Lancashire County Council leader Hazel Harding and Valley at Work chair Anna Bowen, have written to the Co-operative urging bosses to let Morrisons to press ahead with its plans.

In the letter they say the restrictive covenant on the land ‘betrays a disturbingly shallow understanding of Bacup and our local economy’.