Campaigners claimed today a points system used to recommend which Oswestry supermarket bid should go ahead was “seriously flawed”.

Shropshire Council planning officers will recommend to councillors tomorrow that timber firm Richard Burbidge Ltd should win the battle.

The council officers have analysed the three rival bids and have based their decision on a points system which assesses the positive and negative impact of each application.

They have concluded that the Burbidge plan, which will see the building of a Tesco store on Whittington Road, is better for the town than a bid by car firm JT Hughes to build a store on Victoria Road and a bid by developers Liberty Mercian to build the store at the Smithfield livestock site.

But campaigners claimed today the analysis had “serious flaws” and said the supermarket war would be decided on a “Mad Hatter’s Tea Party of Statistics”.

The claim has been made by the Shropshire branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England.

Speaking on behalf of the Oswestry Coalition protest group, which also includes Oswestry 21 and the Oswestry Civic Society, the CPRE’s chairman Andy Boddington said: “Our analysis published this morning, shows that Shropshire Council would be mad to make a decision based on the officers’ analysis.

“It is a veritable ‘Mad Hatter’s Tea Party of Statistics’. The lawyers will be hovering over Shropshire Council like vultures if this analysis is used in decision making.”

The group claimed mistakes had been made in the points system analysis and Mr Boddington added: “At stake here is the future of Oswestry’s historic centre and its small shops and markets. Shropshire Council officers’ are recommending that the Burbidge scheme is approved based on flawed analysis.”

Edwina Smart, of Shropshire Council said: “The council has received the comments from the CPRE which will be reported to the development control committee.”