THE Northern Ireland Court of Appeal yesterday refused an application for leave to appeal to the House of Lords over the quashing of planning permission for a new Sainsbury superstore in Coleraine, Co Derry.

The application was brought by the planning division of the Department of the Environment. Last month the Department lost an appeal against a judge's ruling that planning permission had been granted unlawfully.

The Lord Chief Justice, Sir Brian Hutton, said that, even though the court considered it was an important matter, it had decided to refuse the application. He said that if the Department wished to pursue the matter, it could apply directly to a committee of Law Lords.