Tesco has lost a legal challenge to the opening of a Sainsbury’s store in the Scottish town of Dumfries after the local council gave it the green light earlier this year.

In a judgement issued on Friday, Scottish judge Lord Sandison found that the Dumfries and Galloway Council’s approach to the store had been “well within the bounds of rationality”.

The judicial review by Lord Sandison followed the council’s decision earlier in the year to lift a condition on a former Homebase store located in a retail park outside the town centre.

The unit was originally only approved for the sale of non-food bulky goods, a decision made when the park opened 25 years ago in order to protect the town centre as a shopping destination, but has been successfully challenged several times over subsequent years.

Sainsbury’s received approval earlier this year, and the store opened in summer, despite objections from both Tesco and Morrisons. At the time, the local authority said there were no alternative units in the town centre that could be used, and that its opening would not have a significant adverse impact.

In the request for review, Tesco argued that there was no “lawful or rational basis” to conclude that the Sainsbury’s application was in accordance with the development plan. It further suggested that the Council had failed to properly evaluate the application against national planning policy.

In his Opinion, judge Sandison ruled that it had in fact provided “proper, adequate and intelligible reasons” for its decision.

The ruling leaves the 35,000 square foot store, which was redeveloped for a cost of £17 million, able to continue operations.

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