“This will bring people from far and wide to Kelso and will definitely boost trade in the town,” said Kelso and District councillor Alec Nicol, depute leader of Scottish Borders Council, yesterday.

“It is also a victory for common sense and public consultation,” he added.

Mr Nicol, along with Provost Margaret Riddell, fellow councillor Tom Weatherston, and local traders’ representatives gave evidence last November at a six-day public inquiry into the optimum site for a supermarket in the Tweedside town.

In its finalised Local Plan, SBC planners supported the development by Tesco/Miller of a greenfield site at Spylaw Farm, outwith the town boundaries, where there was scope for other retail outlets.

In their evidence, Mr Nicol and his allies, bolstered by a local opinon poll, favoured the Sainsbury/CWP proposal for the brownfield former Keltek site at Pinnaclehill Industrial Estate, also on the south of the town.

Last week TheSouthern revealed that Scottish Government Reporter Richard Bowden, who presided over the hearing, had plumped for the Pinnaclehill plan.

Although the full findings of the Local Plan inquiry will not be released until tomorrow, a copy of the Kelso supermarket findings has now been obtained.

And SBC planning officials have agreed with the determination which the full council will officially ratify on October 25.

In his conclusions, Mr Bowden states: “It is evident the issues surround the possibility of a major new supermarket for Kelso have been long-standing concerns for the local community as well as those involved directly in safeguarding the town centre’s shops and other businesses. Over several years there have been major differences of opinion on the precise location and scale of the development required.

“There is now almost unanimous support for a new supermarket of around 4,300sqm for Kelso and widespread acknowledgment there is no suitable site in or even at the edge of the town centre.”

Mr Bowden stressed that zoning the land for a supermarket could not take account of individual operators, who could change at any time, nor the financial benefits accruing to the community. This was a reference to the Sainsbury/CWP offer of a £100,000 contribution to the Kelso Common Good fund.

However, he found that other points raised by the anti-Spylaw witnesses were legitimate.

These included that fact the SBC-owned Keltek site was vacant and surplus to requirements, and that a supermarket there would have confined boundaries and be unable to expand into a larger retail development which could threaten town centre businesses.

“I conclude the most suitable location to provide the appropriate scale of food superstore in Kelso would be ... at Pinnaclehill,” concluded Mr Bowden.

The developers will be required to build a new five-arm access roundabout serving the store and its proposed petrol filling station.