FOOD giant Tesco have used a 'flaw' in the planning system to try to win its fight for a superstore in Burnley, MP Peter Pike has claimed.

He has written to Government ministers protesting over what he sees as an abuse of the system by Britain's largest supermarket group, which wants to build on land on Centenary Way.

Tesco submitted a planning application for the development to Burnley Council, but immediately lodged an appeal after the local authority called on the applicants to submit a report on how the store would affect traffic and trade in the area.

The appeal could lead to the application being determined by a Department of the Environment minister and not by Burnley Council.

At the same time, Tesco have submitted a second near-identical application, which officers believe could be used as a negotiating tool towards approval.

Councillors have stood firm and said they are minded to refuse any application which does not have the benefit of an impact study.

Mr Pike says he will oppose the application "very strongly". "It is not an appropriate site and I have also written to the minister because I believe their appeal is an abuse of the system or a flaw in the system," he says.

But Tesco today protested they had done nothing wrong.

A spokesman at the London head office said: "We have acted entirely properly - we can only work within the planning system as it is now.

"What we have done is a perfectly legitimate route towards a development which will be of great benefit to Burnley and its residents."

Meanwhile, Mr Pike is backing Sainsbury's bid to re-locate on the former Prestige site - in preference to a rival application by Castlemore Holdings to build a superstore on the Colne Road land.

After meetings with both groups, the MP says Castlemore's plans for a very large supermarket and very large car park are not, in his view, the most suitable for the site.

He says research in Burnley does not indicate a need for a fourth major supermarket in the town centre and he is not attracted by the proposal, which, like the Sainsbury store and units development, will attract more than 500 jobs to the site.

He says Sainsbury offers a more balanced development.

In a letter asking Burnley Council planners to take account of his personal views, Mr Pike adds: "Clearly, I would have liked industry on the site, though I recognise this is not to be.

"On balance, and wanting to see this key site developed, I would, in principle, be supportive of the Sainsbury proposal," he adds.

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