SUPERMARKET chain Morrisons wants to triple the size of its store in Partick, Glasgow.

SUPERMARKET chain Morrisons wants to triple the size of its store in Partick, Glasgow.

The move is a fresh blow to the controversial plan by rival Tesco for a massive superstore in the area.

Company bosses have lodged an application with Glasgow City Council to increase the size of the Vine Street store from 3221sq m to 9291sq m.

Details of the plans are not yet known but it is understood the extension would be on land at Anderson Street currently used as a car park.

If the extension was granted the Morrisons store would stretch to Beith Street and be only a short distance from where Tesco wants to build its superstore.

A decision on the Morrisons bid, which is for outline consent, is likely to be made at the council's planning applications committee in either August or September.

But the move will increase pressure on Tesco, which was last week outbid by Glasgow Harbour for a piece of land seen as crucial for access to their site at Beith Street.

Partick councillor Kenny McLean said on Tuesday that he thought "the writing was on the wall" for the Tesco development.

Shoppers spoilt for choice

The Morrisons expansion will add to the battle of the supermarkets in Glasgow's West End.

Morrisons already has a superstore in Anniesland.

And in Crow Road, just a few minutes walk from the Partick Morrisons, there's a Sainsbury's. Also within walking distance, Marks and Spencer Simply Food has two branches - one in Crow Road and a smaller one just off Byres Road in Great George Street.

Waitrose is also poised to move into what is now Somerfield in Byres Road later this year.

And although Tesco Town looks doomed, the retail giant is likely to have some sort of presence in the West End before long with plans for a smaller store at a new site in Dumbarton Road.

He added: "I am aware the Morrisons application would make their store considerably larger than it is now.

"The Tesco supermarket plan is effectively a dead duck and I think Morrisons realise that and see an opportunity for the future.

"I don't think both applications could go ahead and an application to extend an existing store would be much more likely to get approval than an entirely new one."

Mr McLean said he had not seen the Morrisons application in detail and stressed it would have to be carefully scrutinised to make sure it was good for the area.

The Tesco Town plan, which was lodged with the council in 2005, led to an outcry from local residents and the formation of the pressure group Stop Tesco Owning Partick.

As well as the superstore, the company wanted to build 900 flats and an underground car park.

But after losing out on the chunk of land to Glasgow Harbour, as exclusively revealed by the Evening Times last week, store chiefs insist they will still go ahead with a stand-alone supermarket, if the result of a public inquiry held in April finds in their favour.

Mr McLean however said yesterday that even that plan was "well nigh impossible".

A spokesman for Morrisons said: "We have lodged an outline application for the redevelopment of our Partick store."