The business community in the Scottish town of Newton Stewart, has vowed to fight plans for a new supermarket on the edge of town, the Galloway Gazette has reported. The newspaper said the majority of the 60-plus business people from the area who attended a meeting of the Newton Stewart Business Association on Wednesday night were against the development of a 30,000sq ft superstore with parking for 160 vehicles and a petrol station just off the A75 at Barnkirk.

Although a planning application has not yet been lodged with the council, NSBA chairman Gordon Andews said he expected retailers in the town to have strong objections due to the damaging effect a superstore could have on high street shops.

He said: “This is all theory at the moment but the business community would object on the grounds that the store is out of town, on a zone earmarked for industrial, not retail, development and on the grounds of over-provision.

“Transport Scotland could also have a say in this as it is against anything on the side of the roads."