CITY traders face the prospect of losing £18m of business a year.

The threat to Chester's appeal and vitality - and possibly to the £280m Northgate development - comes from over-the-border plans for a massive 62% increase in shopping space at nearby Broughton Shopping Park, including a brand new Marks & Spencer store and an extension to the 24-hour Tesco.

The development, which city planning chairman Cllr Colin Bain (Lib Dem, Upton Grange) believes will lead to the loss of the Marks & Spencer outlet in the former Littlewoods premises on Foregate Street, has already led to strong objections from the Town Hall.

City planners argue the extension to the shopping park does not meet national guidelines. They are concerned it could also affect local shopping centres such as Saltney and village and community shops, particularly in Dodleston.

It is acknowledged the development, which includes more than 500 car parking spaces, will compete with Chester, the city's planning board heard.

It is expected to attract major multiples which are already represented in the city centre.

A different view came from Labour Lache Park Cllr David Challen who commented: 'The main issue seems to be that Broughton has not been identified as a town centre.Those of us who live south of Chester are not going to struggle over the Grosvenor Bridge when we can go to Broughton. To say it should not be built is not facing up to the facts.'

The planning board agreed, however, on a 9-2 vote, to record its objections to Flintshire County Council.

Opened in 1999, the shopping park already has almost a third-of-a-million square feet of food and non-food shopping, the city's strategic director for development, Mr Andy Farrall, told the board in a report.

This includes the Tesco super-market, Alders department store and a range of other retailers including Gap, Next, Boots, W H Smith, Burton Menswear and MVC.

Mr Farrall accepts the shopping park is identified as a town centre in local planning policies for the area approved last year.

But it is not included as a town centre in new guidance being drawn up by Flintshire County Council which does not allocate any further retail development.

There are already two outstanding applications to extend the shopping park, neither of which has been determined.

The latest plans, in addition to the new Marks and Spencer and the extension to Tesco, include two further retail units adjoining the proposed Marks and Spencer store.

Overall, says Mr Farrall, the increase in shopping space would be larger than in either of the two previous applications.

Applicants Hercules Unit Trust argue the shopping park has not had a detrimental effect on nearby centres and that spending power is expected to increase.

Flintshire loses trade, particularly to Chester and Wrexham, which leads to an increase in car travel.

The extension would open in 2006 and the developers believe the city centre would lose 4% of its trade, described as 'negligible'.

But Mr Farrall points out this is equivalent to a loss of £16m in the city centre and a further £2m from Chester's retail parks.

He argue that an assessment of the development 'completely ignores' the availability of other preferable opportunities, including the Northgate Development.