SAINSBURY's plan to switch to a new site in Newport could be a move too far for some city centre traders.

The company has asked the council for permission to develop a seven-acre site half a mile away from its existing Shaftesbury store.

It would build a new store there, a 'budget' hotel and what it calls 'non-retail outlets'. It would also transfer staff.

But this would be a distance from the town centre, where a multi-million pound transformation is planned in a bid to attract more shoppers.

The reason given for the Sainsbury's move is the Shaftesbury store's popularity on what is a restricted site.

But Newport Chamber of Trade president John Gibbon says while he was all for companies expanding, Sainsbury's was travelling in the wrong direction.

"Everyone seems to be going out of the city centre and we are losing customers," he said.

Mr Gibbon said there was a danger that Sainsbury's, currently in walking distance of the city centre, would no longer be a walk away in Crindau.

"You would be starting another trading estate again," he said. "Once you get one company going to the outskirts, another one will want to follow suit."

The council says it has asked Sainsbury's for more information about the development.

The company would transfer its existing 250 staff to the new site and create another 200 jobs at the hotel and other developments.

It is understood that the 'out-of-town' issue is one that the council will be looking at here, even though the brownfield (derelict) site is one where the government is encouraging building.

"I was at Newport Retail Park on Sunday and the number of people there was amazing," Mr Gibbon said. "If these people were shopping in the city centre we would be doing a bomb.

"What we need in the centre is either a good department store or a lot more smaller specialist retail shops."

Mr Gibbon is highlighting the need to keep control over developments while the town centre changes are awaited.

The council is likely to be looking at access - Crindau is also a residential area - and the sort of goods on offer. There is also the question of what would become of the vacated Shaftesbury site.

Like other councils, it cannot ignore the popularity of places like the Newport Retail Park, but it can impose restrictions.

It accepted assurance from Boots, for example, that its store at Spytty would not mean the company deserting the city centre for a lengthy period.

It also agreed to Woolworth's Big W store setting up in new premises at the 28 East Retail Park in Maesglas on condition that its range was restricted. Woolworth's is already trading in the city centre.

Some experts identify 'off-centre' developments as well as 'out-of-town' ones, indicating that planning authorities should not be too conservative in drawing an imaginary town or city centre boundary.

Malcolm Hall, director of the Newport Town Centre Partnership, is also unhappy about the Crindau move.

He said Newport inevitably had to accept what companies were doing because the city was in competition with places such as Cwmbran, Cardiff, the Mall at Cribbs Causeway - and even Blackwood, with a new Asda opening soon.

"In the long term, we have to embrace what Newport has to offer collectively, but we must try to attract people to the city centre," he said.

"I would not be in favour of this because a major name like Sainsbury will attract other retail operators."

Many Sainsbury shoppers in Newport feel that they are close enough to the centre to walk in.