The owners of a supermarket in the Cotswold town of Moreton-in-Marsh asked London’s Court of Appeal to quash the local council’s decision to allow planning permission for a rival supermarket.
Barrister Rupert Warren QC, acting for Warners Retail (Moreton) Limited, the owners of a Budgens supermarket in the town, said that Cotswold District Council shouldn’t have permitted the development, and the High Court shouldn’t have backed their decision.
In December 2013, the council granted permission for the “demolition of existing buildings and erection of food store with associated parking. Landscaping and ancillary works at Fosse Way Farm, Stow Road, Moreton-in-Marsh.” The application included 150 parking spaces.
Warners, however, claims it is able to meet Moreton’s need for additional food retail space because it already has planning permission for an extension.
It claims that the council should have taken this into account as a “sequentially preferable solution” when considering “the need for a bigger, better, store for the town,” Warren said.
It is unknown which supermarket plans to develop the Fosse Way site, although local media reports say that Waitrose may be considering opening up in the town.
Warners Retail (Moreton) Limited v Cotswold District Council and Ors. Appeal of Claimants from the order of Mr Justice Supperstone, dated 22nd July 2014, filed 7th August 2014.
Court of Appeal (Davis LJ, Beatson LJ, Lindblom LJ) 12 May 2016
