Developers and commercial agents in the North are concerned that the blocking of the £65 million sterling "D5" development planned by Anglia and General in east Belfast could have knock-on consequences for several other major proposed edge-of-town schemes around the city.

The concerns follow the recent blocking of a Sainsbury's store at D5 by Belfast Chamber of Trade, supported by the City Council. The chamber and council succeeded in an injunction against the development after full permission had been granted for the scheme. Tenders had already been answered for work on the 65,000 sq ft Sainsbury food store, a 100,000 sq ft-plus B & Q store and Warners leisure village. The injunction is expected to lead to further appeals by the Department of the Environment, which granted permission for the scheme in April.

Also, the High Court in Belfast is to hear an application by Anglia and General, the developers of D5, to have the ban on its scheme extended to an adjoining £10 million Tesco food store, which is due to open at the end of this month.

Both the D5 development and the Tesco centre at Knocknagoney were enjoined in previous appeals for the purposes of traffic and environmental impact assessments.

If the Anglia and General application to have the ban on its development extended to Tesco succeeds, it could, theoretically, result in the demolition of the £10 million Tesco store.

Although no developers would speak on the record - mainly for fear of jeopardising proposed developments - industry sources say there is now concern this could lead to similar moves against several other major developments in the planning pipeline.

There has long been major concern among developers and estate agents about the delays in the planning process in the North for major developments. The D5 and Tesco schemes in east Belfast have been in the planning process since 1995. The doubts over developments surrounding D5 are now extending to proposed schemes mainly in the northern and southern suburbs. The North's weekly information source on the planning and building industry, Building Report, reported in its latest issue that Sainsbury's were looking at a second site in south Belfast following on the success of its Forrestside store. The company's favoured site for a second store is believed to be at the Hydebank playing fields, which are owned by Castlereagh Borough Council, according to the Building Report editor, Clare Legge.

Simultaneously, Tesco has launched a planning application for a development nearby on the site formerly occupied by the government forensic science laboratories, off the Belvoir dual carriageway. A third application has also been lodged for a greenfield site at Cairns Hills, on the Saintfield Road for another shopping centre.

Building Report pointed out that these applications are just three of about a dozen major planning applications in the greater Belfast area. These include outline applications - lodged up to two years ago and yet to receive a decision by the planners - for Tesco and Sainsbury developments in the north of the city around the shopping centre and retail warehousing at Abbey Centre.

The Morrison Group has also sought permission for a 50,000 sq ft food outlet along with its residential development at the former Northern Ireland Electricity site at Danesfort, in south Belfast.

Sainsbury has also been waiting for two years for a decision on its application for outline permission for a 40-acre site across the A1 dual carriageway from the Sprucefield Centre, outside Lisburn. The Sainsbury site would include retail warehousing.

These edge-of-town applications also occur as three groups are seeking to build major shopping centre developments in Belfast city centre. Dunloe Ewart, MEPC and John Laing have unveiled plans for a £400 million development which would almost triple the floor space around the existing Castle Court Centre. Land Securities and local developers Deramore have proposed another centre just to the south of Castle Court in the College Street/King Street area and Dutch developers Multi Development Corporation have proposed a £200 million shopping, leisure and residential development which would revitalise the Victoria Square area, which has a number of secondary shopping streets.

In recent months, there have also been applications from the Frazer house-building group for huge "suburban village" developments at Newtownards and Carryduff, in Co Down. The developers are seeking outline permission for large residential developments with expected retail and office components on 150 acres at Carryduff and on a 90-acre site on the Donaghadee Road outside Newtownards.