The High Court in Belfast has begun hearing an action which could lead to planning permission for a £13 million sterling (€20 million) supermarket development in east Belfast being quashed. The development had been due to open next month, but if planning permission is revoked, the store, owned by British chain Tesco, could face demolition.

The first phase of the development, a filling station and convenience store, began trading just over three weeks ago, and the supermarket itself, which would employ about 400 people, is due to open during the first week in October. The development is being challenged by the promoters of the proposed £65million sterling Harbour Exchange development, known as D5, which was to have been built on the other side of the main Belfast-to-Bangor road.

The proposed D5 development, close to Belfast City Airport, would have included a Sainsbury supermarket, an 18-screen cinema and a number of retail warehouses. It had been vigorously opposed by traders in Belfast city centre, who said it would undermine their businesses, and lead to serious job losses in the retail sector.

In July, Mr Justice Kerr ruled that the application failed to meet several key planning criteria, and that Environment Minister Lord Dubs did not have the full facts when he gave permission for the complex to go ahead.

Now the developers at D5 - Anglia and General, Aquis Estates, and Belfast Harbour Commissioners, who own the land - say that the same standard should be applied to the Tesco store opposite.