THERE are plenty of indications that Tesco's plans to extend its Skipton store look like getting short shrift when the council's planning committee meets on Monday.

We can see why Tesco wants to carry out improvements. The company is hugely successful and is trouncing its rivals commercially. Its stores are clean, successful, well designed and sell a range of foods to satisfy catholic tastes. Yet its current Skipton store is a little tired, its range pretty limited compared with, say, Sainsbury's in Keighley. In supermarket terms the Skipton store is more Aldi than Waitrose. Its customers would appreciate an expansion and makeover.

However. No matter how much gloss the design statement puts on the architectural merits of the proposal, it is not much more than an identikit package to be found in any other major Tesco store (one usually parked on a shopping estate). Fine for out of town developments surrounded by several other "warehouse" stores, ghastly up against the stone terraces of southern Skipton and Christ Church.

But the real reason for opposing Tesco's plans is the report by specialist retail planning consultants Savills and commissioned by the council. That concludes that a case has not been made to justify the need for an enlarged store and there are concerns about the impact on other shops within the town centre should Tesco start selling non food goods.

The committee will do right to refuse this particular plan.