A council is to reconsider its approval for a new Aldi supermarket after a challenge by retail rival Lidl.
The £7m store at Canford Bottom roundabout was granted planning permission by Dorset Council in September, against the advice of the authority’s officers.
Lidl subsequently wrongly accused councillors of giving no justification for their decision, the council said.
Officers are recommending them to reapprove the store and give fuller reasons at a meeting on Wednesday.
A report to the Eastern Area Planning Committee said: “Whilst officers disagreed with Lidl’s assertion that the committee gave no reasons for its decision, officers’ advice is that the reasons given were not sufficient.
“[It] runs the risk of the decision being successfully judicially reviewed on the basis that the committee’s reasons were legally inadequate.”
Much of the argument over the store in September was about whether it could be built partly on green belt land.
Councillors decided the benefits it would bring, especially to the occupiers of new homes in the area still being built, outweighed any harm to the environment, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.
Previously, local resident Diane McLeavy told the council: “The promise of cheaper groceries or jobs does not override the green belt policy.”
Hilary Pascall, who lives directly opposite the site, said the supermarket so close to one of the busiest road junctions in the county was likely to lead to more traffic problems.
However, the council received 174 messages in favour of the store including one from a single mother who asked the committee to grant approval to help people on lower incomes.
Since the September meeting, the Secretary of State has declined to intervene in the council’s decision.
