How do people feel about an out-of-town store battle being revived?

It is one of the longest-running planning issues in the market town of Dumfries.

Retail giant Next shut a town centre store in 2018 after failing to secure permission to relax planning conditions so it could move to a retail park.

Now its plans are back on the agenda and the company wants to move into a vacant unit at the Cuckoo Bridge retail park.

It is asking Dumfries and Galloway Council to remove a condition which restricts the type of items which can be sold in these units.

Next opened a store in the heart of Dumfries back in the 1980s and kept a presence for more than three decades.

However, it said the unit it occupied at the Loreburne Centre no longer suited its business needs and sought a move out of town.

That case went as far as the Court of Session and was twice rejected by the Scottish government’s planning and environmental appeals division.

It found that the company could find a “suitable and available” site in the town centre.

The retail firm disagreed and left the town in 2018.

In its bid to return, Next has examined and ruled out a string of potential locations on or near the High Street.

But do BBC news website readers think the planning conditions should be lifted in order to allow the company to open out of town?

Wendy Jones lives in Torthorwald a few miles east of Dumfries and said she would welcome the move.

“I would be very pleased to see a Next store open at Cuckoo Bridge,” she said.

“I miss Next and while I understand it was good for the town and Loreburne Centre, I also understand why Next would prefer a larger unit outside town.

“Surely it is better than having units sit empty?”

However, Jen Harvie, who lives much further away in Dalry, would prefer to see the firm in the town.

“They should be looking in the town centre to open in the vacant store vacated by Debenhams and concentrate on clothes only,” she said.

“By all means open a Next furniture store out at Cuckoo Bridge retail park too.

“By committing a larger amount to open two stores, that would be showing that they really value the people of Dumfries and Galloway and the historic and beautiful town of Dumfries.”

In its submissions, though, Next has said the old Debenhams building was too big for its purposes and also lacks adequate nearby parking.

Lesley Street moved to Kirkinner in Dumfries and Galloway with her husband five years ago after spending more than a decade in South Australia.

She said the town would benefit from letting the firm open on the retail park.

“Dumfries needs big stores like Next to revitalise its shopping experience,” she said.

“It’s so much easier to park at Cuckoo Bridge – I live 120-mile round trip from Dumfries – and would mean less congestion around the town centre of Dumfries.”

She said retail might not be the answer for the heart of the town any more anyway.

“Dumfries town centre is dead as far as shopping goes,” she said.

“Unless several new stores plan to use the space, I can’t see how any one shop could turn its fortunes.

“Maybe an alternative use of the town centre space needs to be devised and leave the big shops to the retail parks.

“We plan our shopping trips around the retail park when we come to Dumfries.”

Jackie Sharp, from Dumfries, also backs the out-of-town option.

“This retail outlet is much needed in Dumfries,” she said.

“It would stop local people having to travel and attract people from outside the town to come here .

“This would support other local businesses.

“The planning committee should certainly grant this application.”

Not everyone, though, thinks they should get the green light.

Eric Tait remembered how Next turned its back on Dumfries in the past and said it should not be allowed to open out of town.

“They got knocked back before – they then shut the shop in town in the huff,” he said.

Dumfries and Galloway Council said that the planning condition at Cuckoo Bridge restricted units to the sale of bulky goods like DIY, hardware and furniture and excluded the likes of clothing, footwear or toys.

It said the reason was in order to exercise “proper control” over the development and avoid it “evolving” into something which could harm Dumfries town centre.

The Scottish government also has a “town centres first approach” – although Next has carried out evaluations of 10 sites in the area and ruled them all out.

It seems certain that another round of the planning struggle will be played out in the committee rooms of the local authority.

The shoppers of Dumfries and Galloway will await the outcome with interest.