A BID by Dorchester's Tesco store to expand its range of goods suffered a setback today.

Selling an unrestricted range of merchandise would undermine the vitality and viability of the town - council officials have claimed.

The supermarket giant has applied to West Dorset District Council for permission to sell non-food or 'comparison' goods on 15 per cent of its shop floor.

Members of the eastern area planning committee deferred making a decision on the chain's bid in October after raising concerns that the sale of some of the goods, including CDs, books and mobile telephones, would affect town centre trade.

They wanted to see the range of non-food goods restricted and called on planning officers to negotiate with Tesco further before making a final decision.

But in a report to a meeting of the planning committee on Thursday, principal planning officer Andrew Martin said that Tesco had responded by claiming that any prescriptive list of what it could sell would be unreasonable.

He said: "Rather than offering to restrict the list which it originally supplied, Tesco is actually seeking the potential to expand it to all types of comparison goods.

"I consider that allowing the sale of an unrestricted range of comparison goods - even when limited to 15 per cent of floorspace of the store - does have the potential to undermine the vitality and viability of the town centre."

But Mr Martin has recommended to councillors that they give the supermarket chain permission to sell a restricted range of goods, ranging from toiletries to light bulbs and batteries.

He said: "It is significant that many of these items have been sold in the store for many years."

Steve McLellan, president of Dorchester Chamber of Trade, said: "Tesco is contravening its original planning consent and therefore should be made to adhere to it.

"One-stop shopping out there has stopped money coming into Dorchester."

No-one at Tesco was available for comment today.