SUPERMARKET chain Asda wants to open a major store in Oxford - off the Botley Road.

The big-name food firm is believed to be interested in the Hartwell car dealers' site for its first outlet in the city.

Hartwell won planning permission on appeal last year to put retail warehouses on the site.

Redevelopment to provide 100,000 square feet of new stores got the go-ahead with a condition preventing food outlets.

But now the city council, which fought the scheme because of the likely impact on traffic, fears that condition could be overturned.

Asda spokesman Naomi Duggan said negotiations over sites were commercially sensitive, and she could neither confirm nor deny that Asda was negotiating with Hartwell.

But she added: "Wheatley is our nearest store. Oxford is a great place and we would like to be there."

City council director of planning John Walker said the appeal decision on the site restricted retail warehouses to non-food use.

But he added: "It was such a blanket approval I would have thought they could get permission for a change from what's been allowed.

"If they could get the condition lifted they would still need planning permission. We would obviously be extremely concerned because it would make traffic conditions on the Botley Road worse."

No-one at Hartwell was available to comment.

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