A supermarket has vowed to fight for its place in Drumchapel as it prepares to battle the matter out in court, again, reports the Clydebank Post.

For the second time, discount supermarket Aldi and Glasgow City Council will face off against Cooperative Estates, the owner of Drumchapel Shopping Centre.

The city council gave the green light for the supermarket to build on the site at Dundreath Avenue last August after its first application was bombed out by the Court of Session.

Cooperative Estates has insists Aldi would hamper the town centre growth, according to local town planning and is once again taking the matter to court, preventing Aldi from starting to build.

Lidl is interested in moving to the shopping centre but will not buy the land and start building if Aldi is so close by. As a result, Cooperative Estates is allegedly trying to stop Aldi opening.

Outraged people in the community have backed both supermarkets to enter the area and decried Cooperative Estates for holding back the construction of an Aldi.

Glasgow Times:

Cllr Paul Carey said: “I am deeply disappointed that the Aldi store is not up and running by now. I share the community’s frustration and anger over this. 

"I have been trying to get a supermarket to locate to Drumchapel for the past decade now. I am still convinced there is room in Drumchapel for more than one supermarket to operate, and which would serve Drumchapel and the surrounding areas.”

The budget supermarket’s plan to open a 17,000sq ft store at Duntreath Avenue was given the green light by Glasgow City Council’s planning committee last August.

Nine councillors backed the proposal for a second time after a previous planning consent was appealed by Cooperative Estates.

Glasgow City Council chose not to contest that appeal, which saw Aldi bosses appear before the planning committee again.

Since then, Cooperative Estates has again lodged another appeal.

Aldi chiefs now say they hope to throw out the appeal in court on March 17 and 18.

Andy Doyle, property director of Aldi, said: “As a result of the petition being raised to judicially review the award of our planning consent, Aldi looks forward to robustly defending its position. 

"Meanwhile, Aldi remains fully committed to delivering a store to Drumchapel and would like to thank the community for their unwavering support. We will provide a further update once proceedings have concluded.”

Drumchapel Community Council said people in the area should be able to decide.

Alison Horner, secretary of Drumchapel Community Council, said: residents' views had not been taken into account.

She added: “It’s extremely disappointing that it’s got to this stage and the community don’t have a say in it. It’s business that is doing this and it is not taking into account what the people in the area want. The community is very angry, particularly at Cooperative Estates for taking this action out in the first place.”

Drumchapel councillor, Malcolm Balfour, was confident the case would be settled. 

He added: “I’m looking forward to this case being settled once and for all. We’re reasonably confident of a good outcome for the people of Drumchapel and the surrounding areas.”

A city council spokesman said it would be inappropriate to comment at this stage.

Cooperative Estates defended its case, and a spokesman said: “We believe there are solid grounds to judicially review the council’s decision, and have consequently initiated this process in order to protect and maintain a thriving shopping centre, rather than see the retail focus eroded by planning decisions we believe are not policy compliant.”