Tesco could face a Competition Commission battle over plans for a £400 million development with Everton Football Club on Merseyside.

A property company is threatening to refer Tesco to the competition authorities after accusing the supermarket, run by Sir Terry Leahy - a lifelong Everton fan – of “abusing” the planning process.

Tesco wants to build a 115,000 sq ft superstore next to the proposed site of a new Everton football stadium on the edge of Kirkby, which has a population of only 42,500.

Development Securities, the property company behind the Paddington Central regeneration in West London, claims that the project will almost certainly kill off the town centre in Kirkby, which the company is hoping to rejuvenate.

It also claimed that Tesco has effectively blocked its plans for the town centre by buying a leasehold in the high street on a site with consent for a smaller supermarket.

Tesco’s purchase came two months ago, only 48 hours before Development Securities was due to buy the lease and bring in a food retailer of its own choice.

Tesco controls 31 per cent of the UK grocery market. The dispute is likely to spark yet more controversy over the tactics that the company and its rivals use to protect their position in the grocery market. In the provisional findings of its ongoing inquiry into the supermarket sector, the Competition Commission last month attacked the use of restrictive covenants and exclusivity arrangements.

Michael Marx, chief executive of Development Securities, said that he would call on the Office of Fair Trading and the Competition Commission to intervene.

He told The Times: “The whole thing seems to indicate Tesco’s relentless drive to impose their view of the world on residents of the UK and to then deal with the consequences.

“Tesco has acquired land that has existing food store consent seemingly to prevent a food store from being built and to ensure their existing scheme succeeds. That has to be a clear transgression of the planning process, and, given what the Competition Commission said last month, we believe Tesco has scored an own goal in the back of Everton’s net.”

Although it is yet to submit a formal planning application, Tesco has the support of the local Knowsley council. The authority has told local resident groups that the superstore and the new football stadium have to come hand-in-hand. Tesco says that the development would create 2,300 jobs for local people and would boost house prices in the area.

A spokeswoman insisted that the supermarket had been “completely open” about its plans and that the purchase of the leasehold in Kirkby High Street was intended to help the council in the future.

She said: “We’ve been working on this project for two years with Knowsley council and Everton Football Club and have developed a strong partnership. By the time Development Securities showed an interest in Kirkby earlier this year, our proposals were already far progressed.”

Development Securities bought the rights to most of Kirkby town centre for £60 million in April.

In March, Sir Terry said that the plans for Kirkby were a “tremendous opportunity” for the local community. He added: “Tesco always improves an area.”

Wayne Tulley, acting chairman of the Kirkby Residents’ Action Group, said yesterday: “There’s only 42,500 of us here. What do we want with a 24-hour superstore?”

Talking shop

31.5%
Tesco’s share of the UK grocery market

1,988
number of Tesco stores across the UK

£10m
planned Tesco spending on road junctions in Kirkby

3,500
number of car parking spaces in the Tesco development

50
number of other stores planned for the Tesco site

55,000
planned capacity of the new Everton stadium

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