The NI Planning Service has recommended that a proposal to build a Tesco superstore in Londonderry be refused.

The retailer had submitted an application for the supermarket on the Buncrana Road. The plans by Tesco also included another retail unit and a home shopping delivery depot.

In a letter to MLAs, the Stormont Environment Minister Edwin Poots said he concurred with the Planning Service recommendation and said that a formal notice of opinion to refuse will be issued at a later date along with the planners' reasons for refusal.

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Tesco said: "We have not received any formal notice from the planners regarding this multi-million pound investment proposal by Tesco. What we have received is strong local support for a new store and the new jobs it would create.

"We would be surprised and deeply disappointed if this store were to be refused, but we have no plans to make further comment until we are informed of a decision."

Last year, planners blocked another retail proposal - also on the Buncrana Road, near the Skeoge roundabout in Derry.

Edwin Poots told MLAs last summer that he had also refused planning permission for a separate Tesco supermarket on the edge of Ballyclare, Co Antrim.

However, a multi-million pound new Tesco Extra in Craigavon opened in January this year and now employs 377 people.

(BMcC/GK)