An investigation into Tesco’s breaching of planning laws on its store near Stockport, Great Manchester, will be aired on BBC Radio 4 this afternoon.
The breach of planning consent was revealed by Estates Gazette last October.
Tesco built an 119,000 sq ft store instead of the 101,500 sq ft store for which it had permission.
The breach of planning consent led to outrage from the supermarket giant’s rivals.
Morrisons even wrote a series of letters to deputy prime minister John Prescott to complain that the Tesco Extra was a “flagrant breach of planning permission”.
Tesco admitted that the building of the extra-large stores was a “cock-up on our part” but has since applied for retrospective planning consent for the extra space.
It also claimed the extra space it built was for warehousing not for retail sales.
Tesco, which saw profits reach £2.25bn in the past year, along with the other major foodstore companies Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrison is being investigated by the Competition Commission.
References: EGi News 18/08/06
