A seaside town on the Firth of Clyde is to get an out-of-town supermarket after planners plumped for a Waitrose application over a pier redesign.

Argyll & Bute Council approved plans from the high-end supermarket to erect a food hall and petrol station on the outskirts of Helensburgh.

The 36,000sq ft development, to be built by Drum Property and designed by Simon Walsh, associate director at Cooper Cromar, will be the chain's third new-build store in Scotland.

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But it marks the formal rejection of an ambitious plan for the redevelopment of the town's seafront area by award-winning architects of the National Museum of Scotland revamp, Gareth Hoskins.

The Glasgow-based architects had masterminded a redeveloped waterfront with pierhead and supermarket, as Helensburgh native Mr Hoskins searched for a way to link separate parts of the town.

The architects said in February that approving the Waitrose plans would be "potentially damaging, and motivated by an extremely short-term and narrow view of the likely impact on the town".

Nigel Keen, Waitrose director of development, said: "We believe that a new store in Helensburgh will provide a boost to the local economy and will allow us to continue to work with local and Scottish suppliers to bring their products to Waitrose customers."

Work on the food store is expected to commence in mid-October and to complete by August 2013.

(NE)