HIGH street shopkeepers are celebrating a "victory for the little man" after taking on a supermarket giant in a David and Goliath battle for a town centre.

Rossendale Council planning committee turned down an application to build a large Tesco superstore with other shops and fast food outlets on the outskirts of Rawtenstall.

The council's ruling Labour group voted unanimously to reject the joint application by Tesco and Rossendale-based Hurstwood developments for the shopping centre at Newhallhey.

An appeal is being considered.

The decision was the end of a two-year battle by the Chamber of Commerce, the Rawtenstall Market Action Group and the Civic Society to prevent a development which they feared would cut the town in half and spell the death of Bank Street as the main shopping centre. Chamber president Tony Winder said: "We are absolutely delighted. This is a victory for the little man."

Mr Winder said the action group was particularly heartened by a government report published on the eve of the planning decision which claimed out of town shopping developments were killing off trade in traditional town centres.

He said: "This totally vindicates our two-year battle."

But the committee gave the go-ahead for three other developments -- a new shopping mall in the town centre on the site of the present town hall, police station and bus station, an extension to Asda on Bocholt Way and shops in a former mill on Burnley Road,

Chief planning officer Philip Cunliffe told the committee there were two other sites closer to the town centre -- the bus station on Bacup Road and the former Lower Mill site on St Mary's Way -- which would support a supermarket. These had to take precedence over any site on the outskirts of the shopping centre.

The Chamber has indicated it would support a supermarket application for either of these sites. The Committee rejected an application from Hurstwood to defer a decision for a month on the grounds that the applications had been in the pipeline for long enough.

Tesco and Hurstwood mounted a last-minute campaign to marshall public support for their development.

A 2,000-signature petition supporting the superstore was collected on Bank Street last weekend, but Mr Cunliffe pointed out the signatures were collected at a time when the town was swamped with visitors for the Rossendale Motor Bike Show.

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