J SAINSBURY, the British supermarket giant, suffered another setback yesterday to its plans to open a new store in Northern Ireland.

The Court of Appeal in Belfast upheld an earlier ruling that planning permission had been unlawfully granted for the store at Coleraine, Co Derry.

An appeal by the planning division of the Department of the Environment was unanimously dismissed by Lord Chief Justice Sir Brian Hutton, Lord Justice Nicholson and Mr Justice Kerr.

Sainsbury had spent over £1 million on the Riverside Park site before Lord Justice Carswell's ruling last June quashing planning permission after a judicial review brought by rival stores Wellworths and Boots.

Lord Justice Nicholson said it was a matter for the Department of the Environment to determine whether it should now hold a public inquiry or carry out a further retail impact study.

Mr Justice Kerr said it did not inevitably follow that there must be a new retail impact study.