PLANNING ping-pong over Aldi’s game plan to open a supermarket in Coleford resumes next week - with the score heading for three-love against the retailer.

After seeing one planning application turned down in 2015 and a second approved, but subsequently quashed in a High Court appeal last year, the company is now on third serve for another volley.

And this time planning officers have recommended that the application for a new 1,805 sq m outlet on land on Tufthorn Avenue should be rejected.

The application comes before the council planning committee next Tuesday (April 10).

This comes after the council’s previous approval of a similar application was thrown out by the High Court after an appeal by Mid Counties Co-op in August last year.

The approval was quashed by Mr Justice Singh on the grounds that the council had not taken into account its reasons for refusing a similar application in 2015.

Coleford Town Council continues to support the Aldi application. The town mayor Nick Penny said he was extremely disappointed with the outcome of last year’s High Court judgment.

He said: “We felt the district council’s position was justified and the decision to grant planning permission had the backing of the majority of local residents."

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In a report to the district planning committee, Tony Pope, planning officer for the case, recommends the application should be refused because there have been no material changes in the current application to the one quashed by the High Court.