SUPERMARKET giant Tesco has called for a straight "head-to-head" comparison against Sainsbury's to see which would provide the best store facilities for St John's.

Representatives from Tesco, which wants to build a superstore on the current Christopher Whitehead High School site, outlined their objections against Worcester's Local Plan at a review meeting at the Guildhall yesterday.

The firm believes the decision to pencil in the development of a site specifically for a food store at the current St John's leisure centre, where rivals Sainsbury's has been given the provision for a supermarket, is unfair.

The chain hopes to persuade the Local Plan Inspector to create a "level playing field" for a comparison of the stores' plans.

Tesco currently does not have planning permission and the Local Plan only has room for one large superstore to serve the St John's district.

"We believe a criteria-based policy, rather than having a specific site location would establish a framework for a comparative evaluation of two schemes at some future date," said Tesco's Sasha White.

"No one knows how this puzzle will be put together over the next few years. But the council should not implicitly prefer one scheme."

Mr White indicated that Sainsbury's still needed a compulsory purchase order, made on behalf of the city council, to buy land owned by the county council on the Swanpool Walk site.

Michael Bedford, acting on behalf of the city council, said pencilling in the Sainsbury's food store recorded the suitability of the site for a supermarket and added that analysis showed the Sainsbury's site had a better location, because it was nearer to the centre of St John's.

"A retail impact study showed the Sainsbury's development would not be 'significantly harmful' to the area," he said.

He indicated that this might not be the case if Tesco's larger superstore bid was given the go-ahead.

Sainsbury's will be putting forward its objections today.

The Local Plan Inspector will not make any final decision until December.