By Rob McLaren

THE DEVELOPERS hoping to bring Asda to Arbroath were last night consulting their lawyers with a view to taking Angus Council to Scotland’s supreme civil court.

Asda have long-threatened to take the council to the Court of Session and are now expected to do so after a final attempt to alter the Angus Local Plan to accommodate the supermarket at Westway failed.

At a special council meeting yesterday, an objection from developers Macdonald Estates and Asda was dismissed as the points had previously been considered by a Scottish Executive reporter.

Councillor Jim Millar tabled an amendment to change the land allocation of the site to “food retail” use after arguing that the development fitted with the Dundee and Angus Structure Plan guidelines but the council’s head of law and administration Sheona Hunter again said that no points, not previously considered by the reporter, had been made.

Councillor Peter Nield argued for a second public local inquiry based on the fact that a retail impact report used by the reporter was now out of date because of a new Morrisons supermarket being built in the Linlathen area of Dundee.

Ms Hunter said this objection had not been received within the time frame for objections, and thus was also ruled incompetent.

Having been forced to abandon the plans for the supermarket, 14 councillors asked for their dissent to be recorded.

A motion by Councillor David Fairweather to send a deputation to the Executive to discuss an imminent review and change to planning legislation with reference to its relevance in small towns in Angus and Scotland was unanimously passed.

After the meeting, Arbroath councillor Alex King said, “I expect Asda, if they stick to their word, will now take the council to the Court of Session—something they have threatened to do for the past year.”

Niall McLean, development manager for Macdonald Estates, was more guarded, but said that now the planning process had reached an end, that legal action could begin.

He said, “We are disappointed. Not one councillor supported the reporter’s decision on this policy—14 councillors asked for their dissent to be recorded.

“It is bizarre that technicalities determine the plan rather than local members.

“Both Asda and Macdonald Estates are now even more committed to bringing Asda to Arbroath because we are heartened by the unanimous support of members from across the political spectrum.

“That support galvanises us. We are consulting with lawyers. The courts won’t intervene until the end of the planning stage and that is the stage we are at.”

Mr Fairweather also vowed to continue the fight.

“The motion that I proposed keeps the door open. It’s not finished yet. We can now lobby the Executive to change their policy.

“I was very disappointed that the amendments by councillors Millar and Neild were ruled incompetent. The only person that’s incompetent is the Scottish Executive reporter who judged the site was unsuitable for a supermarket.”