A SIX-YEAR campaign to bring British retailer John Lewis to Northern Ireland suffered a setback yesterday when a High Court judge dismissed a former environment minister’s interpretation of planning laws.

Sammy Wilson, the North’s Minister for Finance, had urged the Northern Ireland Assembly last year, when he was Minister for the Environment, to support new planning applications that were economically beneficial.

In February, Mr Wilson referred a fresh planning application for a major retail development at Sprucefield on the outskirts of Lisburn to a public inquiry. The application included proposals for a new 220,000sq ft £40 million John Lewis department store. According to John Lewis, the store has the potential to create 900 jobs.

At the time Mr Wilson said he intended to ask the North’s Planning Appeals Commission to give the matter a high priority because of what he described as the potential for employment associated with the proposal.

But a group of retailers in the North who are opposed to the new John Lewis development launched a High Court case to challenge Mr Wilson’s interpretation of current planning legislation.

Central Craigavon Limited successfully argued yesterday that the Minister’s statements could be construed as a change in planning policy.