A SHOPKEEPER is preparing to do battle with a budget supermarket for a second time.

Lidl wants to build a store on the site of a Peugeot car dealership in Cowley Road, Uxbridge, and has returned to the fight after pulling out in the autumn.

Mic Singh, who owns G&T News about 100 yards away in Cowley Road, led local shopkeepers in opposition last July.

He argued at the time that not only would the store probably put him out of business, but the already busy road could not cope with the extra traffic Lidl would attract.

Council planning officers agreed, recommending that councillors refuse the application in October. Less than 24 hours before they were due to decide, Lidl withdrew the application.

Now it is back with a new one, for a store with 78 car parking spaces, open from 8am to 10pm six days a week, and 10am to 5pm on a Sunday. It says the store would create 30 jobs.

Mr Singh said: "We will be opposing it again. Lidl have been sending questionnaires round to residents asking their thoughts and trying to gain support.

"We don't want it; my customers all feel the same way, we have been here more than 23 years."

The attraction of the area to Lidl is the huge student market. Brunel University's campus is a short walk away, closer than it is to Lidl's low-budget rival Aldi, which has a store in High Street, Yiewsley.

Hillingdon Council has a track record of refusing supermarkets where it feels they are unsuitable, and has turned down Tesco's application for a mini-market in Harefield three times.