Discount supermarket Aldi has pledged to put Dundee at the forefront of its multi-million-pound UK-wide expansion.
The German success story has been granted permission to a create a third store in Dundee and intends to push for as many as three more.
The bid has caused some consternation among city councillors, with some fearing that it will become “saturated” with supermarkets with new arrivals “cannibalising” existing businesses.
At a charged council meeting, Aldi’s project was championed by Dundee’s Citizen of the Year Stella Carrington, who is also chairperson of the Charleston Tenants and Residents Association.
She told councillors the community desperately needed the store and that the offer of cheaper produce and guaranteed quality jobs should be grasped.
After a vote that saw administration councillors split, she claimed the decision to grant Aldi permission for a store on Myrekirk Road was a “great victory” for the area.
“Charleston has one of the worst problems with deprivation in Dundee and also has severe problems with unemployment,” she said.
“We have to grab every job we can, whether it is 30 or 300, and to my mind this offer of new investment is fantastic.
“The more shops, more jobs and more competition we have the better and if those jobs mean that we become trolley city then so be it.”
Her views were praised and echoed by councillors, including Alan Ross who said he could not think of any reason to refuse the store permission.
“This is a company that is investing in Dundee and which sees the city at the forefront of its development,” he said.
“They are committed to providing 30 jobs to local people all of them paid well above the Living Wage.”
Councillor Brian Gordon said he believed the people of deprived communities such as Charleston were “crying out for a store like Aldi”.
Council planners had recommended that the application be rejected because the site was zoned for use by alternative businesses such as energy and technology firms.
It was described by councillors including Ken Lynn one of a number concerned about overprovision of supermarkets as “one of the most marketable sites in the city”.
Colleagues, however, pointed out that the former NCR site had been marketed for nine years without successfully securing a new use.