Morbaine Limited submitted a planning application in April to construct a 55,000sq ft "superstore on stilts" next to the A82 on a site it owns between the Alcan junction and Ford car showroom and which it currently has consent to build a "bulky goods" non-food retail park.

But in a fresh twist to Fort William's development wrangles, the Cheshire-based company has this week alleged that a decision by the council's planning service is being "artificially delayed" in order to help Miller Developments' "outlandish and undeliverable" masterplan proposals, which include a massive supermarket on the Blar Mhor, to catch up with Morbaine.

But the company's claim prompted a hard-hitting response this week from Miller Developments.

Miller lodged its application at the end of June to develop the 105-acre site on both sides of the A830.

The masterplan includes a 75,000sq ft supermarket, shops, food and drink outlets and an extension to the Blar Mhor Industrial Estate.

Community facilities earmarked for the site include a new Belford Hospital, a joint police and ambulance HQ, a primary school and an all-weather sports pitch.

Yesterday, Morbaine director Alex Brodie told the Lochaber News: "We are once again facing possible major delays to their plans for a major foodstore on North Road.

"Our planning application was submitted in April after substantial public and council consultation and with over 93 per cent of the public of Fort William acknowledging their support to our scheme.

"I promised these people that Morbaine could deliver a state of the art, two-level store, by Christmas 2011 but I may now not be able to meet that promise since our application may be artificially delayed in order to help the Miller proposals at Blar Mhor to catch up with us, so that both applications can be taken to a planning committee in late 2010.

"Under Government guidelines, we ought to receive a decision in August, without which the Christmas 2011 opening cannot happen."

Mr Brodie added: "Why is North Road being treated in this way? Why delay our decision to allow a competing developer to catch up? And one with a totally outlandish proposal.

"Our site at North Road first had to contend for many years as competitor with the Fort William Waterfront scheme, and now Waterfront Two has appeared in the shape of the Miller proposals for Blar Mhor."

Mr Brodie said Morbaine had put forward formal objections to the Miller scheme. He said it was Morbaine's contention that the "district centre" designation for Blar Mhor in the new local development plan would allow a scheme similar to the existing Caol shopping centre.

"The Miller proposals are vastly out of scale to any such centre and reflect a scale more appropriate to a major out-of-town retail park that would serve a city such as Inverness," said Mr Brodie. "This is a cynical attempt to exploit the planning allocation."

He added: "If that was not enough, Millers are looking to blatantly tempt the council and public by indicating a multitude of community facilities that may come forward if a foodstore is consented.

"Yet Millers are not giving one penny towards those community facilities such as a hospital, police station, school etc, and it is not in their power to bring them forward. It is for Government agencies to provide the funding which, in today's world, is not a short-term likelihood."

If approved, the store proposed by Morbaine would be the first of its kind in the Highlands, featuring a ground-level car park linked to the shopping floor by moving ramps or "travelators".

Morbaine say dozens of jobs would be created in the six-month construction phase and the new store would provide employment for 200 full and part-time workers.

Mr Brodie said: "It is grossly unfair that our application be delayed at all. It is even more frustrating when you realise that the delay may be caused by the need to consider a competitor's application for outlandish and undeliverable proposals.

A spokesman for Highland Council said: "Because this is an application of more than 5,000 sq metres, there is a four-month time scale for processing this kind of application. This deadline will only be reached on August 27.

"The determination of the application has also been delayed by the trunks roads authority, which has requested more time to assess the impact of the development on the A82 trunk road. Further, the council has commissioned - following a public procurement exercise - an independent retail assessment of this application.

"There is a second application also being processed by the council - at Blar Mhor - which is subject to the same independent scrutiny and will require additional assessment of the cumulative impact of the council perhaps supporting both applications."

He added: "For the time being, however, these two important applications are being considered independently and will each proceed to the next most appropriate committee when the planning service's assessment has been completed. A definitive timetable has not been drawn up."

Developer slams Morbaine claims

THE company behind plans to transform Fort William's Blar Mhor area into a retail, industrial and public services hub has hit back strongly at Morbaine Limited's claims that it's "outlandish and undeliverable".

Miller Developments submitted its masterplan for a 105-acre site at the Blar, on both sides of the A830 Fort William-Mallaig road, at the end of June following a series of public consultation exercises.

Morbaine has accused Highland Council of delaying a decision on its own North Road supermarket scheme.

But yesterday (Wednesday), Colin Graham, development manager for Miller Developments, said: "I know that the council has been busy appointing an independent expert to assess the retail impact assessments submitted by both Morbaine and Miller, but it's a big jump to say that the Morbaine scheme has been 'artificially delayed' to allow Miller to catch up.

"Neither Morbaine nor Miller have any control over how quickly the council determines its planning applications."

Mr Graham said Morbaine, as experienced developers, would be "well aware" that schemes involving proposed supermarkets normally take longer than usual to determine - sometimes up to a year for schemes like Morbaine's that are a departure from the council's local plan.

He added: "I would take issue with Mr Brodie's assertion that an overwhelming majority of Lochaber residents are in favour of the Morbaine scheme. At our own exhibition, we posed the direct question: which of the two proposed sites do you prefer - Blar Mhor or Morbaine at North Road?

"Ninety per cent of people said the Blar, five per cent said Morbaine, five per cent were undecided or had no preference.

"It would be interesting to see the exact wording of the question posed by (Morbaine director) Mr Brodie.

"I find it slightly ironic that Mr Brodie is trying to brand Miller's proposals 'outlandish and undeliverable'.

"Miller has been around for 75 years, is a highly accomplished developer and we are not in the business of getting involved in schemes that are undeliverable, particularly when it costs a great deal of money to prepare a technical masterplan for a site.

"Be in no doubt, Blar Mhor is deliverable and hence the worried tone of Mr Brodie's comments."

Mr Graham said Morbaine's "store on stilts" plan represented "a last throw of the dice" and said he doubted whether the North Road site would ever be attractive to retailers considering Fort William.

He added: "Mr Brodie's accusation that Miller's scheme represents a 'cynical attempt to exploit the planning allocation' is a bit like Maradona complaining of handball.

"The reality is that the Blar Mhor site benefits from a mixed use allocation in the new West Highlands and Islands local plan, including district-scale retail. We are comfortable that our proposals are in line with this allocation and with the catchment population."

On the issue of community facilities, Mr Graham said: "In line with the new local plan, Miller has spent considerable time and money drawing up a masterplan that makes provision for a variety of new community uses in a layout that represents a proper, planned expansion of Fort William.

"The reason for doing so was precisely because the proposed school, police station, hospital, industrial units and all-weather sports pitch are unlikely to be built in one phase, hence it's important that the masterplan, new roads network and utilities all include sufficient protection for these facilities to come forward as and when funding is available.

"Through the masterplan, these sites will be safeguarded for the future delivery of the community uses, meaning that the hospital site, for example, will be protected from alternative uses and available to the NHS as and when it decides to relocate the Belford Hospital.

"We are absolutely clear that Miller's proposals will bring considerable community benefit to the town and assist in the delivery of new public services on a new integrated campus.

"Morbaine's proposals, if approved, might bring a supermarket but certainly nothing else. We are happy for the public to make up their own minds as to which represents the best choice for Fort William and Caol."

s.taylor@lochaber-news.co.uk