Residents in Dollis Hill can breathe a sigh of relief after plans for a supermarket in their area were thrown out for a second time.

More than 2,000 locals signed a petition against a proposal by the Co-operative Food to open a 300sq ft store in Burnley Road.

The application, which sought the change of use of the ‘general industrial’ repair garage changed to ‘retail’ was rejected at a planning meeting in Brent Civic centre on Wednesday night.

Supermarket chiefs first applied for the change of use in November 2014 with residents fearing shoppers would abandon the small parade of privately-owned businesses nearby including a green grocers, a newsagent and a café.

Anton Georgiou, a Liberal Democrat activist who led the campaign from the very beginning, said: “This is fabulous news because the campaign against this application has been going on nearly two years. Hopefully they won’t come back and seek to overturn it, or reapply.

He said he spoke to the shopkeepers following the meeting. “Everyone was so pleased. They were pretty sure the Co-op would get it this time.

“This area has a village feel and the shopkeepers wouldn’t have been able to cope with the CO-OP and would have gone out of business.

“There were also concerns about the traffic increases. There are already issues with HGVs and that would have got worse.”

Alison Hopkins, a former Liberal Democrat councillor for Dollis Hill, said: “I’m glad that for once the council seems to have listened to local people. The repair garage is a thriving business and other small businesses felt genuinely under threat.

“The planning committee has listened which means someone has appreciated the value of small independent local shopkeepers.”